


Sanctuary

by ten9



Series: Heaven Haven [1]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/F, Sanctuary/Stargate crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-11
Updated: 2011-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-17 23:13:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/182354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ten9/pseuds/ten9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Author’s notes: I’ve been doodling with this outline since August of 2009. As with Stargate - SG1, the Sanctuary series was quite good for several episodes then they lost me. (Jack the Ripper is not a hero.) However, despite the producers revolting dedication to injecting an historical figure who was a violent misogynistic psychopath in their TV series and portraying him as some kind of positive role model (which is sick), I still liked the show’s original premise and certain characters enough to reorder the universe and create a story that I find appealing. I also enjoy it when Claudia Black inhabits a character, and while I could only endure a handful of those ridiculous Farscape episodes, I decided Aeryn Sun deserved better and found a way to work her in here as well.</p><p>Think of these characters as existing in an alternate reality if you wish but for me, these characters exist in this reality, the TV series can exist somewhere else.</p><p>This begins near the end of, “The End of Nights, Part 2”</p><p>(These characters are owned by their respective studios and producers; I make no profit from these stories, they are provided for personal use only and remain the copyright of the author. They may not be reproduced either in whole, in part or posted elsewhere without permission.)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s notes: I’ve been doodling with this outline since August of 2009. As with Stargate - SG1, the Sanctuary series was quite good for several episodes then they lost me. (Jack the Ripper is not a hero.) However, despite the producers revolting dedication to injecting an historical figure who was a violent misogynistic psychopath in their TV series and portraying him as some kind of positive role model (which is sick), I still liked the show’s original premise and certain characters enough to reorder the universe and create a story that I find appealing. I also enjoy it when Claudia Black inhabits a character, and while I could only endure a handful of those ridiculous Farscape episodes, I decided Aeryn Sun deserved better and found a way to work her in here as well.
> 
> Think of these characters as existing in an alternate reality if you wish but for me, these characters exist in this reality, the TV series can exist somewhere else.
> 
> This begins near the end of, “The End of Nights, Part 2”
> 
> (These characters are owned by their respective studios and producers; I make no profit from these stories, they are provided for personal use only and remain the copyright of the author. They may not be reproduced either in whole, in part or posted elsewhere without permission.)

**Heaven Haven**

 **Part 1**

 **Sanctuary**

 _“I have desired to go  
Where springs not fail,  
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail  
And a few lilies blow._

 _And I have asked to be  
Where no storms come,  
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,  
And out of the swing of the sea.”_

 

\- Gerard Manley Hopkins, “ _Heaven-Haven, A Nun Takes the Veil”_

 

 

It felt to Will as though he was flying down the basement corridor rather than running down it when he and Henry and Bigfoot finally got to the computer terminal,

  
 _“Aw,”_ Henry moaned as he connected his tablet, “damage is bad. I gotta’ defrag half the commands in here.”

  
“Yeah, well,” Will looked nervously around him for either Ashley or her super-abnormals, “you know, take your time.”

 

~

  
Helen was in the main lab and crossed the room with Tesla’s cumbersome weapon held at the ready. She could have sworn she felt a ripple in the still air when one of the attacker’s teleported in and she quickly activated the device, disintegrating him. Ashley appeared in front of her and she backed up a step,

 

“Ashley,” she begged, tears brimming in her eyes, “listen to me… _please_ …. I don't want to do this… you don't want to do this….”

 

Ashley teleported, this time reappearing closer to her mother and when Helen raised the weapon Ashley teleported again, this time reappearing just behind her. When Helen turned, Ashley slashed her mother’s upper arm with the long talon-like nails, leaving four deep gashes in their wake.

 

Helen cried out in pain as she crashed to the floor, struggling to keep the weapon pointed at her, _“Ashley!”_ she cried, desperate.

  
Her chemically and genetically enhanced daughter froze, her raised hand pausing in mid-air while the orange eyes glared down at her, mildly puzzled.

  
“Do you remember when you were small?” Helen begged, her voice breaking, “You used to come into my room in the middle of the night…. you'd crawl into my arms… and you'd say, ‘Mummy, I'm afraid...’” Weeping, Helen set the bulky weapon beside her on the cold stone floor, “Ashley,” she pleaded, sobbing brokenly, _“I'm afraid...”_

  
Unmoved, Ashley raised her hand higher and stepped forward,

  
 _“Hey, Blondie!”_ Kate suddenly burst into the lab, a grenade launcher held at the ready on her shoulder and she fired, hitting Ashley squarely in the chest.

  
Instinctively, Helen curled away from the blast and covered her head with her hand as flaming plasma flared and evaporated around her.

  
~

  
 _“Henry!”_ Will shouted, watching as Bigfoot engaged a super-abnormal.

 

 _“I know!”_ Henry shouted, typing furiously.

  
 _“Get that shield up!”_ Will shouted, _“Seriously! Any time!”_

 

The super-abnormal succeeded in knocking Bigfoot to the floor and turned to Will, who began firing his weapon at him when Henry’s tablet finally beeped,

  
 _“We're good!”_ he shouted just as the super-abnormal teleported and abruptly disintegrated in a hail of flaming plasma. The trio flinched away from the bright flares of light and Henry keyed his radio, _“Magnus! Druitt! EM shield's active again!”_

 

~

  
Henry’s voice crackled over the radio, _“Anyone teleporting now will be vaporized!”_

  
Kate dropped the launcher and limped to where Magnus huddled on the floor and grabbing her by her upper arm, hauled her to her feet,

  
“We’ve got to move! “

 

Another super-abnormal suddenly teleported in beside Kate, her roundhouse kick connected solidly with her jaw and Kate fell to the floor, stunned. The female grabbed Helen by her right wrist and twisted, making Helen scream when she felt the bones in her forearm snap. The abnormal was programmed to slash open Helen’s throat and when she raised her other hand to deliver the killing blow her wrist was suddenly clenched in a viselike grip.

 

Ashley held the abnormal’s wrist, making her let go of her quarry and Helen cried out as she fell,

 

“Ashley!”

 

The blue color had returned to her daughter’s eyes and Helen nearly shouted in relief until she saw the tears that brimmed in her eyes, “Ashley,” she shook her head in desperation and struggled to rise from the floor, “No… Ashley, _please…”_

  
“Mom?”

 

Her daughter was clearly back in control and when the super-abnormal began to struggle her characteristic look of determination slammed down hard over the apology in her eyes and she turned, slamming back the abnormal’s wrist and teleported away, disintegrating them both in the sanctuary’s magnetic shield.

  
 _“NO!”_ Helen shouted, _“No!”_ She turned away from the blast, collapsing on her broken arm, she curled into a ball on the cold stone floor as she shrieked and cried in pain and loss.

 

Kate blinked her eyes, unable to believe what she just saw until the sound of Helen’s weeping made her roll onto her knees and search frantically for the radio. She scrambled to where it had fallen and keyed the mic,

 

 _“Will…”_ she called in a low urgent voice, “I’m in the lab with Magnus and she… she needs your help.” She let her thumb off the mic and quickly keyed it again, “And a gurney… she’s…” she licked her lips anxiously, “she’s hurt pretty bad.”

 

~

 

The group in the basement stared at one another in fear for a long moment before Bigfoot rasped, “ _I’ll bring the gurney.”_ and departed at a run.

 

Will ran behind him and Henry shouted at their backs, “ _I’ll lock this down and catch up!”_

 

~

 

Will’s heart was in his throat as he rushed to Magnus’ lab; when he entered, he saw Kate had used the lab’s first aid kit to bandage Helen’s upper left arm and elevated her head with her rolled up jacket but Helen lay curled on her side in a fetal position on the floor. As he slowed and approached, he could feel his heart break at her anguished cries.

 

“Magnus?” he knelt and reached to place a comforting hand on her arm.

 

“Uh…” Kate knelt behind her and held up a hand to stop him, “careful, that arm’s broken.”

 

“Okay…” he nodded and dragged the open first aid kit closer, “Magnus?” he called softly. Helen sobbed inconsolably and he grabbed the bandage scissors from the kit and shot Kate an inquiring look.

 

“One of the supers ripped open one arm then broke the other.” she sighed, her hand on Helen’s hip, “then Super-Ashley came back and became…” she shrugged, “ _normal_ for a minute and teleported away… _through the shield.”_ she added as quietly as she could.

 

Will’s eyes widened in horror, “ _After_ the shield went back up?”

 

“Yeah,” Kate nodded, her eyes drifting down to Helen’s softly weeping form, “ _After_ … and she took the super-abnormal with her.”

 

 _“Oh my god...”_ Will moaned under his breath. He sighed heavily and blinked several times before returning to Helen’s sleeve. Gently lifting the cuff, he carefully cut up the length, a quiet hissing sound issuing from his clenched teeth when the material parted and revealed the clearly fractured radius and ulna. “Jesus, these breaks are bad...” he muttered, turning slightly when he heard sounds outside the lab.

 

Big as he was, Bigfoot moved quietly as he hurriedly pushed a gurney and med kit from the infirmary over to them. Wordless, he handed Will the kit and collapsed the gurney so it sat as close to the floor as possible. Kate had slowed the bleeding from the gashes on Helen’s upper arm and Will removed the extra blanket from the gurney,

 

“She’s in shock,” he said, pulling the gurney closer, “Her right forearm’s broken and her left arm’s bleeding so we need to move her as gently as possible.”

 

Bigfoot grunted in acknowledgement and moving behind Helen, slid a massive hand beneath and rolled her gently into his arms. Will and Kate hurried to slide the gurney under and Bigfoot lowered her gently onto the thin mattress pad, gasps and moans of pain punctuating her soft weeping. Will tucked the blanket around her huddled form and Kate helped to fasten the security straps as they left the lab.

 

~

 

Once inside the infirmary Will hurried to sedate Magnus as quickly as possible and quietly instructed Bigfoot and Kate as they assisted, preparing the x-ray and surgical suites. After taking films of Helen’s arm, they rushed her into surgery so Will could suture the deep gashes on her upper arm and reduce the fractures on her radius and ulna before applying a fiberglass cast.

 

Henry had carefully repaired and recalibrated all the sanctuary’s security protocols and electronically scanned the building and grounds before allowing himself to rush to the infirmary. He continued to glance apprehensively at his remote tablet as he trotted down the hallways, keeping a worried eye on the sanctuary’s protective shield, and headed directly to the surgical suite, nodding to Kate who stood outside the observation window,

 

“Hey…” he panted, breathless, “how’s she doin’?”

 

“She’ll be okay…” Kate stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans, “one of the super-abnormals slashed open one arm and broke the other.”

 

 _“Oh jeez…”_ he muttered sympathetically.

 

“Yeah…” Kate sighed heavily, dreading that it fell on her to deliver the bad news yet again, “Look, uh…”

 

He looked at her expectantly, his arms folded over the tablet pressed against his chest.

 

“Ashley kinda’ came back to herself… she…” Kate licked her lips, “it was like she went back to normal and then she took out the last super-abnormal,” she sighed, “by grabbing her and teleporting through the shield.”

 

Henry’s eyes widened in shock; _“What?”_ he breathed, his eyes suddenly brimming, “ _After_ I got the shield up? he asked, his voice pleading, “ _After_ the shield went back up and not before? _Are you sure?”_

 

“Yeah…” Kate nodded sadly and shoved her hands in her pockets, “I saw it… they…”

 

 _“They vaporized…”_ he whispered. His eyes shut closed tight and he turned his head away, breathing carefully. He shook his head from side to side for a long minute and when it slowed, he nodded, “Okay,” he said quietly and stepped over to the intercom, “Hey…” he called softly.

 

Will was suturing closed one of the gashes on Helen’s arm and Bigfoot turned at the sound, grunting softly in reply.

 

“Kate told me…” his voice trailed off and he cleared his throat before continuing, “I’m gonna’ let the other sanctuaries know we’re back in control and everything’s…” he shook his head and nodded all at the same time, “you know… it’s… it’s over….”

 

Bigfoot nodded, “Then call Janet.”

 

Henry’s lip and chin quivered and his voice finally broke, “I know,” he nodded, tears spilling from his eyes, “I will.”

 

***

 

Aeryn stood next to Janet in front of the large array of monitors displaying the images of the sanctuary’s network leaders, her booted feet squarely planted on the floor and her arms crossed tensely over her chest, “So the cabal has nothing else to attack us with…” she said, her crisp English accent sounding terse.

 

“Yeah…” Henry’s image nodded and cleared his throat, ‘for now, I guess…. So, for now, uh… we should all just stay in lockdown and try to catch our breath and… and Doctor Magnus will be in touch with you…”

 

“When?” demanded the Buenos Aries head of house.

 

“By tomorrow… for sure.” Henry nodded distractedly and Janet’s eyes narrowed,

 

 _He’s lying._ she thought, her heart beginning to thud.

 

“The surgery was minor but she was anesthetized for it….” Henry scrubbed nervously at his short-cropped hair, “So hang in there… it’s over now and…” his voice wavered and he shook his head, struggling briefly with his emotions, “stay in communication with each other…” he waited for the other sanctuary heads to acknowledge and sign off before severing his own connection.

 

Janet stood staring at the blackened screen, and just as Aeryn turned to place a comforting hand on her arm, Henry’s image suddenly reappeared on the central monitor,

 

“Hey, uh… Janet?”

 

“Henry?”

 

“I’m sorry, I had to make that conference call first… we’re on a private connection now…”

 

“Henry,” Janet interrupted quietly, “is Helen going to be alright?”

 

Tears slipped from Henry’s red-rimmed eyes and he blurted, “I don’t think so…” his lips and chin quivered uncontrollably and he finally broke down, “Ashley stopped the last abnormal from killing her but she teleported after I got the EM shield back up…”

 

Janet’s eyes slammed closed and she pressed trembling lips together, pulling a hand from the pocket of her labcoat and covering her eyes.

 

Aeryn stepped closer to her and spoke quietly to soften the bluntness of her words, “Ashley is dead?”

 

***

 

They had moved Helen to her own bed and Will knelt on the end, gently pulling a bent leg straight and began massaging her foot. Bigfoot looked at him inquiringly and Will sighed, “I’m keeping her sedated till morning but she’s still cramped up from the shock and trauma… at this point massage is probably the only thing that’ll loosen up these muscles.”

 

A soft chuffing sound issued deep in the simian man’s chest and he nodded in understanding and sat next to him on the bed. His large hands grasped Helen’s foot with the utmost gentleness, “It was difficult straightening her on the table for surgery.” he noted gruffly as he massaged the cramped appendage.

 

“Nothing too deep…” Will instructed, “Just enough to relax the muscles… god knows she’ll be in enough pain when she wakes up.”

 

Bigfoot only chuffed sadly in response and they fell silent as they slowly massaged their way up Helen’s legs. Long minutes passed until Will finally asked in a quiet voice,

 

“Where’s Tesla and Druitt?”

 

“They left.” Bigfoot rasped, the disapproval evident in his voice.

 

Will shrugged half-heartedly; “I’m sure that’s for the best right now.” Bigfoot grunted his assent and Will ventured another question, “Why did Henry call Doctor Fraiser at the Vancouver sanctuary?”

 

Bigfoot remained silent as he massaged the long elegant limb. He had lived a long time, but he never thought he would live to see such sad and dark days and he sighed heavily before finally answering,

 

“Janet lived here until Helen sent her to head the Vancouver sanctuary seven years ago.” He began slowly, careful in choosing his starting place. Will only looked at him and he continued, “Helen was privately studying the top medical students in the country… looking for a new protégé when she found her … more than… ten years before.”

 

They finished their massages and rose in unison from the bed, both reaching to pull the covers over the still form. Will had propped Helen’s broken arm on a pillow to reduce swelling and Bigfoot carefully draped the sheet and comforter over the pillow and fiberglass cast. Across the bed from him, Will took her pulse and glancing up from his watch, silently encouraged him to continue,

 

“Janet was graduating from medical school with honors…” he spoke softly in his characteristic, halting cadence, “she had specialized in rare and unusual medical disorders… and exotic diseases and when Helen approached her, she was considering a career in the military…”

 

Will sensed he was in for a long and involved tale and he slumped tiredly in an overstuffed chair in the dimly lit room.

 

The soft, raspy soft voice drifted as Bigfoot remembered the young doctor’s arrival to the sanctuary; in spite of the small woman’s steely determination and often stern demeanor, Janet was capable of flashing sudden and brilliant smiles and it was clear to him from the start the brilliant young doctor loved her new post, but she loved Helen Magnus more.

 

“But she came _here…_ ” Will gently prompted, “as Magnus’ protégé.”

 

“Yes…” he nodded and finally sat in a chair next to Helen’s bed, “and they fell in love…” he murmured; a soft, lilting tone coloring the rough voice. A smile crinkled in the corners of his eyes and he chuffed/chuckled quietly at the memory of happier times and Will’s look of surprise,

 

“Really?” Will whispered, his eyebrows arching high on his forehead, “Magnus is bi?”

 

 _“No,”_ the shaggy head shook in the negative, “She was never willingly with men…” his gruff voice faded abruptly and he emitted low grunts of exasperation, frustrated with his indiscreet choice of words, “She has only been with women… most definitely...” he nodded distractedly, “She didn’t want to admit she was in love with Janet…” _She was afraid to let herself love anyone anymore…._ he thought silently and added aloud, “But Janet loved her anyway…” he chuckled quietly, “Doctor Fraiser was stubborn that way… and eventually… Helen admitted she loved her too.” Will looked speechless and he continued, “They wanted to have children…” he shrugged, “and Helen had a fertilized ovum from…”

 

“Druitt...” Will finished, struggling to keep up while he restructured his perception of Helen Magnus, “But I thought she and Druitt were…”

 

“It is not my place,” Bigfoot cut him off rather abruptly, “to discuss how the fertilized egg came into being.” He chuffed somewhat agitatedly, “The egg was still viable… Helen and Janet wanted to have a child so they implanted it inside Helen…’ his voice trailed away again and Will sat forward in his seat, the exhaustion of the day leaving him, if temporarily,

 

“And they raised Ashley… together?”

 

“Yes…” Bigfoot nodded, “but when Ashley was…” his voice faded again as he considered the passage of time and he sniffed expectantly at the air, as though his superior olfactory sense could detect the answer in a wayward particulate molecule. “Ashley was… twelve… when Janet was accidently electrocuted on a search for an abnormal….” He shrugged, “She was in a coma for a long time…” he gazed sadly at the still form in the bed, “Helen blamed herself… and Ashley blamed her too.”

 

Will sat back in his chair; _Bet I can guess where_ this _story is going…_ he thought tiredly.

 

“Ashley was… coming into her own…”

 

“A teenager...” Will clarified in a droll voice.

 

“Janet recovered, but Helen felt the incident would have been avoided if she had acted more quickly. It haunted her… and eventually their relationship suffered until Helen sent her to head the Vancouver sanctuary… and Ashley demanded to go with her.”

 

While this information was new to Will, he felt he knew both Magnus and Ashley well enough over the previous year to guess the outcome. “But Ashley obviously moved back…”

 

Bigfoot held up two large and thick fingers for emphasis, “ _Two months_ before you got here, Will.”

 

 _“Oh…”_ Will’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead, “So I was the distraction meant to ease the tension between them?”

 

Bigfoot sighed, “It was seven years before Janet could convince her to try spending more time with Helen. But when she got here it was obvious Ashley only agreed to come back… because she hoped Helen would bring Janet back too…”

 

“So… having a new protégé was supposed to prove to Ashley that Doctor Fraiser was staying in Vancouver?” Will sighed, seeing his recruitment and arrival in a completely new light.

 

“She _was_ in need of a new protégé…” Bigfoot waved a large forefinger at him, “Your arrival was long overdue.”

 

“Yeah,” Will snorted quietly, “by seven years…” Bigfoot grunted in assent and Will nodded thoughtfully, _My point exactly…._ They fell silent as they watched Helen’s pale form. Long minutes passed until he got up to check her pulse and breathing again when he muttered sadly,

 

“So much death,” he sighed, thinking of Clara, “so much loss, it’s senseless.”

 

“Yes,” Bigfoot rasped in a quiet voice, “and two mothers lost a child tonight.”

 

 ***

 

It was the middle of the night and Janet sat in the office that connected to her bedroom. She had cried for hours and found herself sitting at her desk, staring dully at the security screens. She didn’t bother to turn when she heard the door open and close softly behind her,

 

“Care for some company?”

 

Her red-rimmed eyes drooped closed when she felt the soft hand on her shoulder and she nodded, “It’s late.”

 

“I know,” Aeryn apologized, “I’m sorry, I thought I should share the… news with our long-time residents.”

 

Janet nodded and sniffed, whispering thickly, “Yes, they loved Ashley too.”

 

“Come on then…” Aeryn pulled her with insistent, firm hands from the chair, “Off to bed with you.”

 

The office connected to the bedroom and Janet offered no resistance when Aeryn helped her from her rumpled clothes, “Will you stay?” she asked in a small voice.

 

“Of course I will.” Aeryn muttered matter-of-factly and held the sheet and quilt for her when she slid into the giant four-poster bed. She quickly shed her own clothes and joined her under the covers.

 

Janet pressed close against the slim muscular form and a fresh flood of tears spilled from her eyes when she felt Aeryn tighten her arms around her and place a soft kiss on her hair.

 

 _“Shh…”_ Aeryn soothed, _“Just breathe….”_

 

“I don’t want to _just breathe_.” Janet sniffed and swiped at her nose.

 

“Sorry…”

 

“No,” Janet sighed and pressed closer, _“I’m sorry.”_

 

“What would you rather do instead?”

 

Janet pulled away and looked down into gray-green eyes, “I want to make love.” she stated bluntly and placed a sudden, heated kiss in her mouth.

 

Aeryn responded immediately by thrusting her tongue in Janet’s mouth and they tussled briefly as they battled for dominance; hands roamed with urgent need over suddenly inflamed skin and Aeryn rolled on top,

 

 _“Should I get a toy?”_ she asked, breathless as Janet’s hands grasped with urgent need at her full breasts.

 

 _“No...”_ Janet rasped, _“I need you on me…”_ she grunted, pulling the slender form close and spreading her legs, _“and in me_ ….”

 

Aeryn complied; straddling a trembling thigh, she rested her weight on an elbow and tilted Janet’s mouth for a kiss while her undulating hips stroked her center on Janet’s soft skin until the fluttering folds opened and they moaned in unison as her stroking spread hot cum on the smooth limb.

 

When Janet and Ashley first arrived at the Vancouver sanctuary Ashley made it known by her behavior that she disapproved of every candidate her mother sent to audition for Janet’s protégé. It wasn’t until Aeryn Sun arrived that she told Janet, if begrudgingly, she would behave and allow the lean muscled raven-haired beauty a probationary period.

 

Sniffing, Janet blinked and gulped her tears, feeling her center pound and throb and her skin glow slick and hot as Aeryn ground on her. More tears filled her eyes, spilling from the corners as she ran her fingers over the precisely braided plait that hung over a sharply defined, muscled shoulder, _“Please Aeryn…”_ she whispered brokenly, “ _really hard…”_

 

Janet had apologized for her daughter, initially providing Aeryn with just enough information to explain the teen’s dismissive behavior, but Aeryn proved more than a match for Ashley’s barely concealed disapproval and contempt. Her parents were career military professionals and in an effort to please them, after graduating nearly two years early from Oxford, Aeryn spent two years as a transport pilot in the RAF. Her PhD in microbiology and her highly specialized experience in biomedical research languished unused until Helen called in a favor to a certain Royal Air Force Group Captain to transport a large abnormal to the London sanctuary. Aeryn and her flight crew had signed confidentiality agreements and during the long flight, Helen had conversed easily with the young pilot flying the large C-17 Globemaster. By the journey’s end, she decided to investigate Squadron Leader Sun’s background and eventually approached her with a unique employment opportunity.

 

Aeryn was unfazed by the hostile teenager; she intended to prove to Dr. Frasier that she was more than capable of being her protégé, and ironically, in the process she quickly earned Ashley’s respect that only deepened over time. The young teen already showed real talent for martial arts and weaponry, and when Aeryn offered to further her training, Ashley came to trust the austere young woman, eventually regarding her as an older sister.

 

Aeryn lowered her weight onto Janet’s softly weeping, grunting form, _“Shh…”_ she tried to comfort her, “Let me take you…” she murmured softly. She trailed her fingertips across Janet’s trembling lips and when they parted, she slipped two fingers inside, gasping softly when Janet suckled them. She briefly pumped them in her mouth then withdrew and gripped the silken furred mound, smiling faintly when Janet arched into her hand. She slid her middle finger into a wealth of hot creamy cum, and her smile became tender at the mewling sounds that issued from Janet’s throat. Wishing distantly that her tongue delved between Janet’s folds instead of her questing finger, she quickly slid the length of the elegant digit inside. Responding to Janet’s cries for more, she quickly added the second saliva-slick finger, then added a third within the clutching and slick silken walls, finally allowing her own eyes to fill with tears of loss when Janet arched against her and loudly moaned in desire and bereavement.  The petite woman clutched at full breasts and writhed beneath her, shifting her unencumbered leg on the mattress, opening herself further to Aeryn’s thrusting fingers.

 

As Aeryn’s relationship with Ashley grew she found herself increasingly drawn to Janet as well.  With Ashley’s unspoken consent, when they embarked on searches for abnormals they did so as a family, but when Aeryn approached Janet in her lab late one night, a single touch triggered a conversation that would alter their lives for the next six years.

 

Aeryn’s brow furrowed with effort as she ground on Janet’s thigh and thrust her fingers inside, and the complex of their musky sexual scents made her mouth water and nostrils flare.

 

 _They had both reached for the same instrument at the same time and the touch was incendiary. She curled the suddenly caressing fingers around Janet’s hand,_

 _“Janet?” she had whispered and tilting Janet’s mouth to hers placed a soft, if heated kiss on her lips._

 _“Aeryn…” Janet had pulled away, “please, I can’t…”_

 _“Why?’ Aeryn asked, not backing off, “I know you’re not seeing anyone.”_

 _Janet sighed, “Well, that’s true, I’m not, but… but Aeryn, I’m still in love with Helen…”_

 

They had stayed up most of the night talking. Aeryn knew Janet and the esteemed Doctor Magnus had been together and were Ashley’s parents, but she had assumed their separation was amicable and her eyebrows had risen in honest concern,

 

 _“And it is your wish to continue to hope that she will let you back into her heart?”_

 _“Yes,” Janet had sighed softly, “it’s my hope that she will... someday.”_

 _“But in the meantime, how do you decompress? Who do you let touch you?”_

 _“What?”_

 _“Who do you go to when you need comfort… physical contact?”_

 _“I…” Janet shrugged, “I don’t.”_

 _“Janet, I love you, but I had hoped a physical relationship would tell me whether I was_ in _love with you.”_

 _“So you’re not...” Janet had asked, looking somewhat bemused, “_ in _love with me.”_

 _“Well, no… I love you, but I’m not_ in _love_ _with you.…” Aeryn reached for her hand again, “It’s alright to tell me if you don’t feel the same.”_

 _“I do, Aeryn,” Janet said earnestly, “I care for you deeply,_ I do _… but as a friend.”_

 _“And so do I…” Aeryn assured her just as sincerely, “but that shouldn’t stop us from enjoying each other on a physical basis as well… until at least one of us finds true love.”_

 _Janet considered her words and spoke slowly, “You mean we could be, ‘friends with benefits’?”_

 _“Yes…” Aeryn nodded, “I believe that’s how it’s referred to nowadays.”_

 _“But I am still in love with Helen.”_

 _“And I am still hoping to fall in love one day…” Aeryn assured her, “And if that happens to one of us then we shall have to remove the benefits clause from our friendship.”_

 _Janet stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding, “Alright… but if this becomes too complicated we stop.” She entwined her fingers with Aeryn’s, “You’re too good at what you do, I won’t lose you to a physical relationship.”_

 _“Agreed,” a wide smile suddenly overwhelmed Aeryn’s usually serious features, “I’ll stay in my room and we’ll only share each other’s beds when invited.”_

 

Aeryn’s eyes squeezed closed and she redoubled her efforts as she ground on Janet’s thigh and thrust her fingers. Her undulating hips thoroughly coated the slender trembling limb with creamy cum and she curled the fingers within, forcing her eyes open as Janet arched beneath her. The sounds of wet were lost by Janet’s low moans and cries as she climaxed, and Aeryn pressed firmly against her when she felt the hot squirts of ejaculate fill her palm.

 

Aeryn’s body grew stiff and she jerked spasmodically on top of Janet’s rigid, quaking form. Together they sobbed openly as they came, their climaxes making them vulnerable to their shared grief and they wept for long minutes, riding the waves of the long orgasms until only their unrestrained tears of loss remained. Connected, they lay huddled in each other’s arms until warm rays of the late morning sun woke them both.

 

***

 

Bigfoot was gentle when he helped her dress, but Helen’s injuries still throbbed and she tugged and fussed with the black sling that matched her short-sleeved black dress. She looked wan and as pale as the white bandage wrapped around her upper left arm and her simian friend tried not to worry as he stood behind her. He and Will had dressed Clara’s body and placed her in the oaken coffin and Henry raided the gardens for the flowers that sat in vases placed around the casket in the sanctuary’s chapel.

 

Helen offered a few words in memoriam to the young woman, Clara Griffin, Granddaughter of Nigel Griffin, The Invisible Man and member of The Five. Her voice clear, she told the small gathering that Clara had overcome the difficulties of a troubled youth and by rediscovering her past had reconnected with and mastered her abilities, and showed uncommon bravery in facing the threat of The Cabal.

 

Bigfoot’s sensitive sense of smell noted the distinct rise of enzymes secreting through Helen’s skin as the pain medication wore off. He knew his employer well and the keen eyes noted the battle Helen waged in her body, indiscernible to everyone in the chapel but him, the powerful simian heart twisted fretfully as he watched Helen struggle to contain the emotions that threatened to crumple her features. Fragile and vulnerable, he knew she needed rest and more pain medication and yet he wavered, knowing that Doctor Helen Magnus would not return to her rooms until she was ready.

 

The ceremony ended with each of them placing a rose on the coffin and Henry approached her,

 

“Doc…” he began, “Doc I’m so sor…”

 

“I know,” Helen nodded and gently cut him off, “thank you for your good work, Henry…” Her voice trailed away and Henry’s own keen lupine sense of sight and smell noted the anguish that settled in the older woman’s eyes and the faint odor of enzymes shedding in response to pain. Helen could feel sweat beading on her upper lip and her brow knitted in further pain when she raised her hand to wipe it away with the back of a knuckle and the movement pulled at the sutures in her arm, “P-please maintain the EM shield at full strength for now.”

 

His eyebrows arched, “Uh, really?  We still need them at full strength? Because w…”

 

“Yes...” she nodded and moved past him.

 

“Oh…” Henry shot Bigfoot a look of concern, “okay.”

 

She approached her protégé, “Will?”

 

“Magnus…” he began but she cut him off as well,

 

“Will, I’m sorry this is happening so soon, but I need you to meet Doctor Li at the dock, he has twenty containers of abnormals we’ll need to house until the Tokyo and Beijing sanctuaries have been restored….”

 

Will nodded, prepared to let Magnus move through her grief at her own pace, “Of course.”

 

Bigfoot stepped forward, “I will take care of the burial.” he offered.

 

“Thanks…” Will turned from him back to Magnus, “I’ll get your meds and change your bandage before I go.”

 

“I’m fine…” she assured him.

 

“Sorry,” he shook his head, “not negotiable.”

 

Helen’s lips pursed together in a classic indication of annoyance and Bigfoot stepped forward, “I’ll do that…” he looked at Will, “ _first_ ….” he assured him and motioned for Helen to precede him from the chapel.

 

~

 

Bigfoot sat in front of the workstation in the sanctuary library and stared at the screen. After changing the dressing on Helen’s arm she had refused the pain medication and for the second time that morning, food as well. He wanted to call Janet but was unsure what he could tell her that was of any use, or comfort.

 

The computer emitted a soft if urgent sounding beep and he watched the communication window pop open on the monitor. He clicked on the accept button and grunted softly, unsurprised to see Janet’s drawn features fill the screen,

 

“Janet?” he called, his voice at once rough and gentle.

 

“Hello, my friend...”

 

She greeted him and a tiny smile tugged at his lips at the salutation, only she and Helen addressed him in that manner.

 

“I was just about to call you,” he began, mildly agitated grunts escaping him when his throat twisted closed at the heartbreak he saw in the woman’s eyes, “we… had a memorial for Clara Griffin this morning.” He chuffed quietly and continued, “And Will has gone to greet Doctor Li and the…”

 

“How is Helen?”

 

He nodded his large, shaggy head, “About the same as yourself…” he ventured cautiously.

 

One eyebrow arched on Janet’s brow and she nodded resignedly at the screen, “And where is she?”

 

“She’s in her office…” he chuffed worriedly, “She won’t eat.”

 

“Yeah, well,” Janet sighed, “Did you really think that would happen today?” Bigfoot nodded and shook his head all at the same time and she continued, “When is Ashley’s funeral? Aeryn and I would like to attend.”

 

He shrugged at the screen, “She won’t say.”

 

“She won’t say?” Janet repeated, “Why?”

 

“I don’t know,” he chuffed sadly, “But I am hopeful she will in a day or two.”

 

Janet nodded sadly, “Alright…” she peered at him, “and how are you holding up?”

 

“I’ll be fine.” He squinted at her, “Who is caring after you?”

 

The smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes was genuine if brief, “Aeryn is taking care of me, thanks…. Please call me…”

 

“Tomorrow.” he promised.

 

***

 

 _“You’re sending me away.”_

 _“No…” Helen had scoffed, “of course not.”_

 _“You are…” Janet’s eyes flashed in a fury, “I’m sorry you don’t age and I do…”_

 _“This isn’t about that.”_

 _“But how can you just stop loving me?”_

 _“I will_ never _stop loving you, Janet…” Helen’s eyes had brimmed, “That is why I’m sending you t...”_

 _“Are you serious?” Janet’s eyes had opened wide in exasperated outrage, “What about Ashley? What is she supposed to do? She’s growing up and growing older too, Helen! Are you going to send her away too?”_

 _“Of course not,” Helen’s patience was growing thin, “she’ll remain here but she can visit you…”_

“Visit me?” _Janet sounded aghast._

 _“Well, yes,” Helen crossed her arms, “ she is_ my _daugh…” her voice faded abruptly and she clamped her eyes and lips tightly shut, regretting her ill chosen words and the hurt reflected in Janet’s eyes._

 _“You said I was as much her parent as you…” Janet whispered in a faint voice._

 _“Of course you are,” Helen tried to backtrack, but it was too late, “and she can always visit you in...”_

 _“HELEN!” Janet exploded, shocked and enraged they were even having this conversation._

 _Ashley had been listening to their argument outside the door and she suddenly burst in, “Like hell!” she had shouted, “You’re_ not _sending her away!”_

 _Biological mother and daughter shouted at each other until Janet forced her way between them. Struggling back into her façade of calm detachment, Helen explained in a flat, clinical voice that the separation was for the best for all concerned; Janet was going to the Vancouver sanctuary to be the head of house and Ashley would certainly be allowed to visit._

“Allowed?” _Ashley had scoffed angrily, “That’s great mom, but if Janet’s going to live in Vancouver then so am I!”_

 

The memory played distantly in Janet’s mind as she walked down the corridor from her room to Aeryn’s and she entered when Aeryn answered her knock,

 

“Do you want some company tonight?” she asked.

 

“Yes,” Aeryn greeted her with a hug, “haven’t seen much of you today.”

 

Janet wrapped her arms around her and squeezed back, “It’s alright to tell me if you’d prefer some privacy.”

 

“Not tonight.” Aeryn assured her and turned briefly to activate the security screen on her desk, “Still no word about Ashley’s funeral?”

 

“Not yet.” Janet sighed.

 

Aeryn shook her head as she finished arranging the windows on her screen, “With her death the Cabal lost both its’ greatest asset and yet, by their own standards, accomplished a great achievement: destroying Helen Magnus thru the loss of her only child.”

 

Janet only nodded as she followed Aeryn to her bed. Silent, they disrobed and slid under the covers, Janet nestling in her arms.

 

“And what would you like this evening Doctor Frasier?”

 

“Your room, Doctor Sun,” the corner of Janet’s mouth quirked at the inadvertent rhyme since Aeryn’s last name was pronounced, _Soon,_ and she placed a soft kiss on the elegant throat, “your call.”

 

 _“Hmm…”_ Aeryn thrummed low in her chest as she slid smoothly from the bed and crossed her bedroom to the beautifully hand-carved armoire.

 

Janet watched her beautiful nude form and sighed; Aeryn’s body was lean and muscular and beautiful to touch and behold and yet, in spite of the passage of years she still took care not to cry out Helen’s name when she climaxed in bed with this woman. She truly held her protégé in high esteem both as a professional and as a friend but she still fantasized it was Helen making love to her every time Aeryn touched her. Her intentions always began the same; to stay in the present moment when she and Aeryn had sex, but as Aeryn herself reminded her, _It’s just sex..._ she thought for the millionth time. Over the years, Janet had tried, privately, to completely give herself over to Aeryn and push Helen from her mind. She tried repeatedly, and always unsuccessfully, to surrender to the reality that Helen had ended their relationship and allow herself to fall in love with Aeryn Sun, to no avail. No matter how long she lived, she would love only Helen Magnus.

 

She watched Aeryn open the double doors on the wardrobe and rummage in a drawer she knew was full of sex toys.  A wry smile tugged at her lips when she caught sight of the floggers and paddles that hung in the rear of the closet.

 

“Is this alright?” Aeryn asked solicitously as she returned to the bed, holding up the pink u-shaped double-ended jelly dildo.

 

“Fine.” Janet assured her and pulled a pillow under her backside. While she and Helen always took turns using strap-ons and being on top, Aeryn made it clear early in their physical relationship that she was ‘exclusively a top’ and Janet had acquiesced, content to be her protégé’s ‘bottom’ in the bedroom.

 

Aeryn slid onto the bed and on top of Janet, catlike; placing hot kisses in her mouth, she rubbed her sinewy form hotly on Janet’s until both women moaned at the heat and the heavy sexual scent that emanated from their bodies. A hinged metal joint lay imbedded in the double dildo and Aeryn rubbed the jelly toy between Janet’s legs, grunting ferally in satisfaction when Janet spread them wider beneath her. She teased the flooded opening with one end, her feral grin growing wider at Janet’s cries for more.

 

 _“Oh god…”_ Janet rasped, her skin aflame everywhere Aeryn touched her, _“please don’t tease me…”_ Clutching and squeezing her breasts, she offered them to her, _“Please… please fuck me….”_

 

Aeryn took the offered nipple in her mouth and growled around the flesh, sucking and mouthing as much of the flesh as she could fit inside as she pushed the toy deep in Janet’s depths. Janet’s eyes opened wide and a long low groan escaped her. Aeryn firmly pumped the length of the jelly shaft while she feasted noisily on Janet’s breast, transforming her moans into renewed cries for more.

 

Aeryn pulled from her and breathed onto the trembling saliva-slick skin, _“Yes,”_ she husked, _“you definitely require more.”_ She sat back on her heels, between Janet’s legs and pulled the toy free.

 

 _“N-n-noooo!”_ Janet wailed plaintively. Aeryn liked it when she begged but she needed her roughness in order to climax and feel relief, _“Oh, please, Aeryn...”_ she entreated, _“Aeryn…”_

 

Instead of inserting the opposite end of the dildo in her own sodden depths, Aeryn plunged the end coated in creamy cum in Janet’s rectum, making her cry out and her backside arch off the pillow.

 

“Easy now…” she soothed, working the slick length inside and pushed the other jelly dildo into Janet’s dripping center.

 

Janet gripped the sheet beneath and her legs opened wider as she struggled to accept the dildos in both openings. She felt her rear channel stretch and strain to accept the slippery intruder and both pleasure and pain forced tears from the corners of her eyes, _“Oh god… yes…”_ she cried, her hips bucking against the toys and Aeryn’s hand, _“now fuck me… fuck me hard…”_

 

Helen never used erotic profanity during sex and even though she didn’t mind when Janet did, Janet had always tried to refrain from using it even though she knew Helen smiled indulgently when her ardor got the better of her and she shouted in profane release. But Aeryn reveled in it and she cried out wantonly as Aeryn rammed the toy in both openings.

 

 _“Yes, Aeryn!”_ she cried, _“Fuck my cunt! Harder!  Fuck it harder!”_

 

Aeryn complied, the straining, flexing muscles in her arm and back offering mute testimony to the strength she employed thrusting the dildos. Her breath grew short both in the effort she expended and the arousal she felt watching Janet writhe and convulse beneath her; so vulnerable with her upturned pelvis and wide spread legs. The sight of the toys plunging in both flooded, dripping openings and the sounds of wet and Janet’s moans and cries made her own center throb with need and she was grateful when Janet shouted,

 

 _“I’m gonna’…”_ she wailed, her voice a keening whimper, _“Oh god, I’m gonna’…”_

 

 _“What?”_ Aeryn asked in a hoarse whisper, _“What, my Janet?”_

 

 _“Penetrate me…”_ Janet gasped desperately, _“com… completely.”_

 

A wide smile spread across Aeryn’s mouth and she lay on top of Janet’s undulating form. She pressed her knee against the toys and continued to ram them forcefully inside Janet’s body while she roughly grabbed her breasts and plunged her tongue deep in Janet’s mouth, penetrating her in every orifice. She growled as she thrust her tongue as far as she could down Janet’s throat while her knee banged the dildos inside. Her hands squeezed and her fingers pinched and twisted the rock-hard nipples as hard as she could.

 

Janet’s eyes squeezed tightly closed in the assault and she cried out; she didn’t mind that Aeryn was rough during sex, she welcomed the intense distraction it provided and enjoyed feeling overwhelmed by the sensation of being so completely filled and dominated. In the dark, profane and erotic corners of her mind, she shouted for Aeryn to fuck her every hole deeply and with every fiber of her being and she surrendered utterly; sucking wildly on Aeryn’s tongue. Her knuckles turned white gripping the sheet and her body bucked and writhed with wanton abandon as the white-hot sensations exploding from her nipples pushed her over the edge and into a massive orgasm.

 

Aeryn only pulled her tongue from Janet’s mouth when she felt her climax and she raised her head so she could watch as she stiffly arched back into the pillow and screamed her release. The feral grin became tender as she watched Janet come; she was Janet’s sex partner, and while Aeryn knew she could never be more than that she still cherished each time she and Janet joined in this way and her vision blurred with unshed tears when she felt the hot squirts of Janet’s ejaculate soak her skin. Minutes passed before she slowed her thrusting knee when the orgasm finally began to fade, and when Janet opened red-rimmed eyes she placed a gentle kiss on her still trembling lips and chin,

 

“Better?”

 

Janet nodded, “ _Yes...”_ she whispered, _“thank you.”_

 

“The pleasure is always mine as much as yours.” she smiled down at her, _“However…”_ she added, and raising herself from Janet’s limp form, urged her legs together to keep the toys inside and scrambling up the mattress, straddled Janet’s face.

 

A soft moan of renewed desire rumbled deep in Janet’s chest when she saw the rigid florid folds coated in creamy cum and with shaking hands, she guided the dripping center onto her mouth. Aeryn’s head rocked back on her shoulders, her low guttural groan drowned out Janet’s slurping and she pressed her hands against the wall for support and ground on the mouth and tongue. Her eyes screwed shut and her body stiffened as she convulsed and shook in the massive orgasm that made her shout and roar in release.

 

Janet knew Aeryn wanted immediate relief and her fingers pinched the straining clitoris hard, twisting it while her thumb ferociously rubbed the stiff, fluttering folds and she thrust her tongue inside without mercy until Aeryn climaxed. Keeping the flat of her tongue pressed firmly against the roof of Aeryn’s vagina she opened her mouth wide in an effort to catch as much of the squirting ejaculate as possible.

 

Unrestrained grunts and cries tore from Aeryn’s throat and she rigidly shook and trembled and convulsed as the orgasm crashed into her. Janet gulped and fed while Aeryn came, and in a distant part of her mind, she contrasted and compared, as she always did, the lightly sweet taste of Aeryn’s crystal clear ejaculate to Helen’s heavier, more syrup-like ejaculate. She closed her eyes, memories of past lovemaking sessions with Helen occupying her while she licked Aeryn clean.

 

Small quakes and tremors continued to ripple through Aeryn’s trim muscular form and she was breathless when she pulled from Janet’s mouth and hands and knelt beside her, _“Oh thank you...”_ she sighed appreciatively, rubbing her hand soothingly over Janet’s chest and breasts. Looking down at her she took note of the cum that coated the delicate features and she bent to place a soft kiss on her lips, _“Mmm…”_ she hummed, _“almost as tasty as yours.”_ she murmured and licked the remaining cum from the lips and smooth planes of Janet’s face. She caressed the soft skin with her fingertips and smiled, “Are you ready to have it out?”

 

Janet clasped the hand on her cheek and nodded. Aeryn place a final kiss on her lips and sat up while Janet shakily spread her legs. Placing a comforting hand on her mound, Aeryn gave her a reassuring squeeze and pulled the double toy from both openings simultaneously. Janet moaned in pleasure and pain and Aeryn shot her a look of concern,

 

“Alright?”

 

“Yes…” Janet assured her, closing her eyes and relishing the lingering soreness of being utterly filled and taken. Aeryn placed the end that had nestled in Janet’s center in her mouth and fellated the jelly toy clean of her creamy cum before bending to place one more kiss in Janet’s mouth.

 

Janet accepted the tongue and let her eyes drift closed, indulging Aeryn in her favorite post-coital activity of combining the taste of their cum in her mouth and then feasting until no trace remained. Minutes passed before Aeryn pulled free and rose from the bed, taking the jelly toy into her adjoining bathroom. When she returned she slid under the covers and pulled Janet’s mouth against her breast. Janet readily accepted the nipple and suckled, her hands clasping the full rounded globe while Aeryn stroked the short highlighted blond hair until she drifted off.

 

***

 

Unable to find a comfortable position under the covers, Helen’s arm throbbed and she gritted her teeth against the pain even as tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes and slid into her hairline. Miserable and yet determined, she rubbed in desperate defiance between her legs, whimpering as her thumb rubbed her clitoris and her fingers stroked and thrust inside her opening.

 

The vampiric serum she had injected more than a hundred years before had slightly masculinized her clitoris, making the hood become larger and fleshier and the clitoral glans grow thicker and wider. Throughout her long life, of all the women Helen had bedded, none had taken such delight between her legs as Janet Fraiser. Janet loved the odd structure of her clit and hood and during their years together spent endless hours licking back the fleshy cover, alternating between flicking the tip of her tongue and rubbing the flat of it against the thick wide button of her clitoris, moaning reverently when she breathed in the heavy musky scent that made her mouth water. And despite Helen’s advanced age, Janet never ceased to be in awe of the abundant thick and creamy musky cum and equally heavy syrupy clear ejaculate she teased from her body.

 

Helen was unaware of the tears that flowed from her tightly closed eyes, and her heart swelled and broke as memories of past lovemaking with Janet filled her mind’s eye. She sobbed quietly, remembering how Janet loved kneeling between her legs, feasting wantonly while Helen watched, caressing the short-cropped hair until she could stand it no longer and she came with a cry, feeling Janet struggle to gulp and swallow the blasts of hot ejaculate that exploded from her.

 

Weeping brokenly, Helen climaxed spasmodically, a huge load of ejaculate shooting into her hand and between her legs. Heart wrenching sobs tore from her and holding her broken arm against her chest, she curled around the hand between her legs and cried until the exhaustion took her and she drifted into troubled slumber. The pain never left her closed eyes and she slept fitfully; memories of Janet and Ashley haunting and tearing at her soul.

 

~

 

 _“Hey, hey…” Janet beamed as she entered Helen’s office, “Look who’s back….”_

 _Helen looked up expectantly from her desk, her eyes widening in shock first when she saw Janet’s smiling face then again when Ashley entered the room, her daughter’s smile radiant…_

 

Helen woke with a start, disoriented. She had fallen asleep with her head on her desk and she looked in befuddlement at the door. _Ashley…_ her eyes brimmed and she covered them with her hand, as though she could shield herself from the memories of Janet and her daughter that suddenly flooded her mind’s eye.

 

“No more…” she said aloud, to no one but herself.  She shook her head to clear it and winched, suddenly aware of her broken arm that throbbed painfully in its cast. She adjusted the sling and cautiously turned her head from side to side, stretching the tight neck muscles then returned to the complicated program she was writing on her computer.

 

***

 

Janet took off the reading glasses one-handed and tossed them on her desk, blinking several times before closing her eyes and squeezing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She usually preferred to attack the sanctuary’s voluminous and tedious paperwork in small chunks, enabling her to liven up her long workday day by visiting with and discussing ongoing care for the residents of the sanctuary with her staff. But the prospect of having to endure their sympathy proved too much for her and she retreated to her office, letting Aeryn handle the resident’s needs and activities of daily living by herself.

 

Unfortunately, the paperwork piled on her desk wasn’t enough to keep her mind from wandering and she found herself staring out the window again and again. Happy memories of Ashley and Helen would crowd her conscious mind for attention, and when a small smile would touch her lips, she would suddenly remember her daughter was dead and tears would brim determinedly in her eyes.

 

“Enough...” she scolded aloud and brushed angrily at the traitorous tears that slipped down her cheeks. She stared frustratedly at the monitor, willing Helen to call her. _Please Helen,_ she begged, _I need to say goodbye._ Just as she wearily closed her eyes, the computer beeped at her; an image of Bigfoot popped onto the monitor and she hurried to click the accept button on the screen,

 

“Janet?” Bigfoot’s shaggy image peered at her.

 

She cleared her throat, “Yes, my friend…” her voice faltered and she was suddenly unsure what to say.

 

“I promised to call today…” He chuffed softly, his head cocking to one side as he regarded the dark circles under her puffy red-rimmed eyes. “Helen has still not spoken about the memorial service for Ashley….”

 

Janet drew a deep breath and released it in a rush, she stared at his image for a long moment before asking, “Do you know why?”

 

He shook his head, “She will not say… but I think…” he chuffed and grunted distractedly, unsure if he should give voice to his thoughts, “I think she does not believe Ashley is dead.”

 

Janet’s eyebrows arched high on her forehead, “She thinks she’s still alive?”

 

“I don’t know…” he shrugged, “it’s only a feeling.”

 

Janet’s head nodded fractionally and her eyebrows rose and fell. Famous for expressing himself with an economy of words, Bigfoot was a being of great compassion; a sensitive soul with finely tuned acute senses and intuition but Janet tried not to read too much into his concerns, though she still shook her head in consternation,

 

“How?” she asked, “How could she have escaped through the shield?”

 

“It is not…” he chuffed and stared down at his large hands, “It is not my belief that she did.”

 

The lump that formed in Janet’s throat felt impassable and she breathed carefully through her nose until she could swallow and speak again, “Well then…” she sighed, “I… guess we’ll just have to wait a while longer for the memorial then….”

 

“When she accepts Ashley’s death…” Bigfoot nodded, “we will have the service then.”

 

Janet thanked him and signed off; tears streamed down her face as soon as the screen darkened and she covered her face with her hands while she wept.

 

***

 

Helen placed the oaken box on her desk and leaned on it with her one good hand when the room suddenly tilted at a sickening angle. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and steadied her breath until the dizzy sensation passed. Feeling drained, she opened the lid and looked down wearily at the turquoise pendant and silver necklace. Lifting it from the box, she held it in her hand and sank heavily into her chair. Her thoughts drifted as she gazed down at the soft blue gem, _A hydrous phosphate mineral_ , she thought distractedly, _a triclinic… crystal… conchoidal fracture and… and waxy to subvitreous luster…._

 

A delicate hand smoothly set a cup of tea down next to the box and Helen’s eyes numbly travelled from the hand up the arm and widened in shock when she looked into her daughter’s smiling face. A small gasp of pain escaped her and she quickly looked down, a soft hissing sound issuing between her gritted teeth. When she looked back, Bigfoot stood before her desk,

 

 “You need more pain medication.” he rasped in a quiet voice.

“Stop doting on me.” she groused, “It makes my teeth itch. “

Bigfoot grunted in agreement, “Mine too.” He placed a food tray in front of her, “Now, eat.”

  
She winced and tugged distractedly at the sling, not looking at him, “I should be helping Henry and Will. “

 

“Oh, they're fine…” he chuffed offhandedly, “everything's running smooth as silk.” He held out a daisy to her in offering and she took it, giving him a wan smile, “Work is progressing on the Beijing, Moscow and London sanctuaries, and Doctor Li is helping to distribute the dispossessed residents from Tokyo and Beijing between here, and the Colorado and Vancouver sanctuaries.”

 

While he spoke Helen’s attention returned to the necklace she held and although she nodded in acknowledgment, it was clear she hadn’t heard a word he said.

 

***

 

Janet had tried dating boys in high school, resulting in what felt like more than her share of teenage angst, although in hindsight she counted herself lucky her parents allowed her to come to the realization on her own that she was attracted to girls and always had been. In college, she became infatuated with one of her professors, but she waited until the semester ended before she made any advances toward the older woman. Janet had surrendered her virginity in her bed and in return, her teacher taught her how to climax and ejaculate. A year went by and as graduation neared, both women drifted apart and Janet looked to the future as a newly graduated medical doctor.

 

 _On the field where the graduation ceremony had taken place, a mysterious and beautiful dark-haired woman approached her and her parents. After congratulating Janet on her achievement, Helen introduced herself,_

 _“I’m sorry,” Janet’s voice caught for a moment when she looked into the piercing blue eyes, “do I know you?”_

 _  
Helen smiled and handed her a business card that read,_

 _SANCTUARY_

 _FOR ALL_

 _DR. HELEN MAGNUS_

 _M.D., D.T.C.X.B._

 _  
“I’ve had a look at your transcript,” she said, “and I have a proposal for y…”_

 _“Excuse me?” Janet blurted in sudden outrage, “Those records_ are confidential _, and if this university has…”_

 _“I accessed your records without the university’s knowledge,” Helen assured her, “and they are quite impressive… that is to say,_ your _transcript was quite impressive.” Helen chuckled softly, “As I was saying, I am in search of a protégé… all I ask is for a little of your time.”_

 _  
Janet blinked and looked down at the card she held, suddenly aware she was responding to this woman on a level other than intellectual. “So,” she struggled to affect a nonchalance she didn’t feel, “you're a doctor of what, exactly?”_

 _Helen’s smile was distractingly captivating, “The specific discipline depends entirely on the patient.”_

 _  
“I’m uh…” Janet frowned at the difficulty she was having forming a simple sentence, “I’m actually about to join the Air Force.”_

 _  
“Fair warning, Doctor Fraiser,” Helen’s voice and eyebrows lifted teasingly and Janet felt a flush of heat creep up her neck, “I’m offering you a position far more adventurous than anything the air force has to offer…. However, to answer your question; I specialize mainly in cryptozoology and xenobiology… teratology, too, when the need arises.”_

 _  
“Teratology,” Janet smiled, “and what is that?”_

 

The intercom on her phone beeped softly but insistently, pulling Janet from her reverie. Blinking, she reached for her reading glasses and cleared her throat, activating the intercom with her other hand,

 

“Yes?”

 

“Janet,” She heard Aeryn’s voice, “Will you be coming down for dinner?”

 

Janet squinted in bemusement at the phone then out the darkened window in front of her desk. She’d spent most of the day staring out the window and hadn’t noticed when night began to fall, “Uh… yes…” she shook her head as if to clear it and struggled stiffly from the chair, “I’m on my way.”

 

“Right,” came Aeryn’s light reply, “meet you in the dining room.”

 

“In a few minutes...” Janet assured her and disconnected the intercom. She tossed the reading glasses back on her desk and gripped the back of her neck in both hands, massaging stiff neck muscles while she stared out the window and into the darkness beyond the glass.

 

She had tried calling Helen earlier in the day, but in spite of Bigfoot’s best efforts, Helen refused to take the call, apologizing via her simian manservant that she was busy working on a project but would get back to her. _Dammit, Helen,_ Janet sighed and looked down at her phone, _please talk to me…._

 

Wearily, she turned from her desk and crossed the room to her connecting bedroom and bathroom. Once Helen refused her call it was clear to Janet that Bigfoot was right; Helen did not accept Ashley’s death. _God knows what she’s working on…_ she thought distractedly as she washed away the miniscule grains of salt left from the tears she shed throughout the day. _The project is a delaying tactic._ Her hands stilled beneath the warm water and she concentrated on the warmth that flowed through her fingers in an effort to calm herself and find her center, _If she had taken my call she would have to accept that our daughter is dead… and she can’t do that yet._ A sob broke from her and she pressed wet hands firmly against her eyes. _Stop it,_ she admonished, _there’s nothing you can do right now so just stop it._ She rinsed her face with cold water then shut off the faucet and straightened, her eyes distractedly locking on their reflection in the mirror. _But I need to talk to her,_ she wailed silently, her face crumpling and her eyes twisting closed in anguish, _I miss her…_ tears determinedly brimmed yet again and she pressed the heels of her hands on them hard, _I miss Ashley… and I miss Helen…._

 

“Oh please, Helen….” Janet begged in a tremulous whisper and cleared her throat. Lowering her hands, she absently regarded her haggard appearance in the mirror and bent over the sink to splash more cold water on her face.

 

***

 

Will mindfully uncrossed his arms and jammed his hands in his pockets, quietly observing her while she spoke,

 

“I know you've had your hands full, and I _really_ appreciate you all giving me some time, but I’m hardly the only one personally affected by recent events.” She looked at him sincerely, “We haven't spoken since Clara's memorial service.”

 

“Yeah, which was five days ago.... Magnus,” he took a step toward her, “what happened was... the worst thing I could possibly imagine, but it happened… and you mourning Ashley alone is not going to do yourself or anyone else any good, alright? Without closure…”

 

She held up a hand to stop him, “I know all of that, Will.” she cut him off, sounding impatient.

 

He held his hands palm up in surrender, “Then why are you delaying the inevitable? Why are you hiding in here?”

 

“Simple or complicated version?” she asked, “Your choice.”

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I've wanted to tell you exactly that for days, Will, but I had to be sure, and now I am.”

 

“Of what?” he asked, looking utterly perplexed.

 

“I'm not mourning anything,” she assured him, “not yet… because _I_ believe there's a very real chance that Ashley may still be alive.”

 

His eyebrows arched high, “How could she have survived? And believe me, I say this _wanting_ her to be somewhere, _anywhere_ , alive and well.”

 

“Which could very well be the case…” she walked over to the array of monitors and pointed at the center screen, “the first attacker teleported at 18:25 hours… notice the change in the EM field's strength? The second attempted teleport happened less than three minutes later.”

 

Will followed and peered at the monitor, “Further destabilizing the field.”

 

“Exactly…”

 

“So…” Will struggled to understand, “you're saying the EM field was unstable when…”

 

“Ashley teleported at 18:29 hours…”

 

His brow furrowed in a frown, “You think she got through?”

 

“A further analysis needs to be done to determine _exactly_ where she could have landed.” She turned to him, “I need you to be my emotional compass; we nearly lost the entire sanctuary network because of my judgment. I need to know that my instincts aren't wrong… that my feelings don't end up blinding my decisions.”

 

He looked at her for a long moment, carefully considering his words, “You could call Janet…” Helen looked away, but he caught the conflicting emotions of anger, fear and sadness that darkened her features.

 

“I need to work on this right now…” she said, not looking at him, her voice barely audible.

 

“Okay,” Will nodded, trying not to sigh aloud.

 

The disorienting dizziness and slight nausea returned, sweeping over her and she stared down at her fingertips that protruded from the sling, “And what is our… status otherwise?” she asked, closing her eyes for a moment and willing the sensations away.

 

“Oh, nothing,” he replied, watching her, his tone conversational, “There’s a baby Stenopelhabilis running loose in the sanctuary….” As he spoke it was clear Helen’s attention had wandered, “But don’t worry, we have everything under control.” he finished, suddenly unsure if he was still trying to reach Magnus or trying to convince himself everything was, indeed, under control.

 

~ 

 

Helen worked for another two hours, painstakingly structuring specific search parameters one-handed until she was satisfied and slumped in the chair. Flexing her shoulders, she readjusted the strap on the sling, wishing her arm and hand didn’t hurt so much so she could rub the stitches in her opposite arm that had started to itch.

 

“I can't see anything here…”

 

She heard the soft voice and looked up to see Ashley holding a remote tablet for her to see. Helen’s eyes opened wide in shock and she jumped when Will abruptly replaced the smiling image of her daughter,

 

“There's no evidence in the bio-scanner of Ashley escaping the EM field perimeter.”

 

Helen blinked and looked away, licking her lips and unsteadily cleared her throat, “I've been looking at this from the wrong point of view. I…” her eyes narrowed as the room tilted and she forced Ashley’s smiling countenance from her mind, “I thought the de-stabilization in the field meant that she might've gotten through it.”

 

Will’s brows furrowed, “What else could it mean?” he asked quietly.

 

“Well,” Helen’s eyes looked deeply at the screen, as though her gaze looked directly into the written computer code, “that she simply bounced back within the field itself… and rematerialized somewhere inside the sanctuary….” She turned to him, “Think about it, Will, why did the field weaken at the _exact_ moment that she teleported?”

 

“An anomaly?” he held up his hands in growing exasperation, “A power surge because she was taking one of the super-abnormals with her at the time?”

 

“You're reaching,” she shook her head stubbornly, “all we need to do is search for elements of Ashley’s DNA inside the sanctuary.”

 

“No, no, no,” his waving finger jabbed at her frustratedly, “ _you're_ reaching. We have had a work crew in the sanctuary for a week,” he sat on an ottoman next to her and looked earnestly into her red-rimmed eyes, “and _no one_ has found anything that could be possibly be construed as a body.”

 

Her eyes suddenly brimmed and she fought to control the tremble in her lips, “But they haven't been everywhere.” her voice wavered and she looked at him with desperate, pleading eyes, “She could be disoriented...or hurt…”

 

Will sighed sympathetically, “Or gone.” he finished quietly.

 

She pursed her lips tightly together, vainly trying to containing the emotions that threatened to spill from her, “Do you really want me to stop?”

 

***

 

Janet had asked Aeryn that morning if she could spend the night in her room and Aeryn had readily agreed; sensing Janet required more than a sexual encounter and physical closeness in order to sleep. Days were passing and there was still no word of Ashley’s funeral from Dr. Magnus and she was concerned Janet was spending entirely too much time alone in her office. _Perhaps she intends to ask for some intense relief…_ she mused as she made her way to her room. Her eyebrows arched in greeting when she saw Janet headed towards her from the opposite end of the long hallway,

 

“Are you turning in for the night?”

 

“Yes,” Aeryn smiled warmly, “are you joining me?”

 

“Yes…” Janet held out her hand to her and took it briefly in greeting, giving it a soft squeeze, “If that’s still alright.”

 

“It is….” Aeryn assured her as they entered her bedroom. She crossed to the computer on her desk and accessed the active security programs.

 

“You know,” Janet tried to make her voice light, “you’ve been spending so much time at home your new friend, Lady Greystoke, will forget you even exist.”

 

Aeryn shot her a sly smile, “Am I that forgettable?”

 

“Hardly,” Janet assured her while she stepped out of her clothes, “But I’m sure _Her Ladyship’s_ social calendar is a demanding one.” She shot her a small, teasing smile.

 

Aeryn arranged the array windows for the security protocols on the monitors, “She does have a job...”

 

“Yes,” Janet sighed, “in Washington… at the state’s coroner’s lab… she certainly chose an odd place to employ all her degrees.”

 

“Well, “Aeryn grinned good-naturedly, “probably not so much the degree in zoology, but I’m sure the microbiology and psychobiology degrees come in handy…” she smiled indulgently as she joined her near the bed, wrapping her arms around Janet’s nude form.

 

“Mmm, yes…” Janet hummed thoughtfully and pulled Aeryn’s tank top over her head, “Too bad she’s a member of the aristocracy, she might have a made a good candidate for becoming your protégé…”

 

“ _Her Ladyship_ ,” Aeryn unhooked her bra and shrugged out of it while Janet unbuttoned and unzipped her pants, “is only a Countess because her father was the Earl of… hang on,” she placed her hands on top of Janet’s stopping her, “ _My_ protégé?” her brows knitted in a frown, “Are you going somewhere?”

 

Janet shrugged, looking down at Aeryn’s perfect, full breasts, “No, I...” her voice faded abruptly, “I don’t know where _that_ came from….” Her eyebrows arched high, perplexed by her own words. “But now that Ashley’s gone…” she looked up into Aeryn’s genuinely concerned gray-green eyes, “I don’t know,” she shrugged again, shaking her head, “I guess I’m just thinking aloud.” She sighed and returned to pushing Aeryn’s pants and underwear down to her knees.

 

“Alright,” Aeryn said, trying to keep the worry from her voice and moved to sit on the bed so Janet could pull off her boots. In silence, she watched her pull them free, then her socks and when she pulled off the pants and underwear bunched around her knees she clasped Janet’s upturned face in gentle hands, “You haven’t told me what you’d like…”

 

Janet placed her hands over Aeryn’s and whispered quietly, “I’d like you to fuck me with the big strap-on… but first I want you to spank and whip me.”

 

Aeryn’s smile was both sad and concerned, the strap-on Janet referred to was too large for her, but Janet knew it was Aeryn’s favorite toy, “I do have smaller dildos, you know.” she said teasingly and pulled her to her feet.

 

“No,” Janet shook her head, “I want you to use the black and purple one.”

 

“Alright,” Aeryn acquiesced, “but I get desert first…” she urged Janet onto her back on the bed and knelt on the floor between her legs, “I haven’t really had the chance to taste you fully of late…” she said softly and flicked her tongue over the open folds.

 

Janet gasped and held her legs wide. Indeed, in the nights since Ashley’s death Janet had preferred to bury her pain by hurrying to bury her face between Aeryn’s legs, rousing the younger woman’s ardor so they could bypass conversation and spend their time together either having sex or sleeping.

 

Aeryn’s solicitous feeding became more urgent as creamy cum began to flood Janet’s responding center. She fed on the delicious salt-sweet ambrosia and slid two fingers inside, pumping them and licking away the increasing velvety flood. Janet’s eyes closed and she bit her lower lip, reveling in the sensation of Aeryn’s feasting mouth and thrusting fingers, and pretended it was Helen between her legs.

 

It was Helen Magnus who introduced Janet to the joys and delights of hand-spankings and anal sex, but Janet hid her shock the first time Aeryn asked to tie her to the four-poster bed and whip her with a leather flogger. Open to sexual experimentation in college, Aeryn discovered a penchant for kink; she liked giving spankings and whippings and her body had responded to Janet’s consent to being whipped by soaking through the jeans she wore. Opening her eyes, Janet stared at the ceiling and moaned, remembering the satisfaction she felt the first time Aeryn spanked her hard with a leather paddle and the pain she felt. The paddling left her breathless and it wasn’t until Aeryn had flogged her back and she had cried out for Aeryn to, _Beat me, beat me! Whip me harder!_ that she realized she was asking to be punished.

 

She had failed and was sent to head the Vancouver sanctuary. In the final analysis, she had failed; she failed Helen, Aeryn, and she had failed Ashley… _and now Ashley is dead…._ Janet’s eyes slammed closed and she forced her attention back between her legs. Each time Aeryn spanked and whipped her, she begged the raven-haired beauty for more. She pleaded to be fucked hard, hard enough to hurt, she wanted it to hurt until the orgasm that crashed over her left her feeling cleansed and absolved of her offenses and the session always ended with her weeping uncontrollably.

 

Aeryn’s thrusting fingers suddenly bent and she rubbed the pebbled patch within, making Janet gasp and moan aloud, _“Mmm,”_ Aeryn hummed into her flesh, _“That’s better…”_ she returned to licking Janet’s exposed rock-hard clit and laved and suckled the rigid florid folds in her mouth, the multiple ministrations bringing the petite form writhing on her bed to a massive climax. When she felt Janet’s body tremble rigidly she quickly covered the spasming opening with her lips and suckled hard, growling into the flesh when the orgasm and her rubbing thrusting fingers made Janet’s urethral sponge explode and she hummed and growled in satisfaction at the light sugary-sweetness that filled her mouth.

 

Undulating wildly, Janet cried out and shouted her climax, but she did not allow herself to cry. She groaned and panted and shuddered in the aftermath, content to let Aeryn lick all traces of ejaculate and cum from her body and the fingers she pulled free.

 

Unaware she was doing so, Aeryn smiled as she finished licking Janet clean and she smoothed her hands over the creamy soft skin of the petite woman’s inner thighs, “To the dresser…” she gently pulled her from the bed and pressed a quick kiss against her lips.

 

Janet obeyed and licked her lips; her taste buds distantly recognizing her own essence as she silently bent and placed her hands on the bureau. She knew Aeryn liked to watch her face while she paddled her and she left her eyes closed, waiting.

 

Aeryn retrieved a leather paddle from the armoire and froze when she turned; from the beginning of their sex life together, this petite yet powerful woman placed absolute trust in her and Aeryn’s eyes brimmed regarding the beauty of her nude form and utter vulnerability. She took a clearing breath and stepping behind and to one side, gave Janet’s backside a sharp slap that made her cry out and her head rock back on her shoulders.

 

Aeryn slapped the paddle against her trembling backside again and again, increasing the strength with each blow, and careful to move the paddle until she had evenly reddened the firm backside and back of her thighs. Her eyes alternated from watching the quivering mounds redden and the clash of pleasure and pain that crashed over Janet’s face as she shook with the effort not to cry. When Aeryn finally stopped, she smoothed her hand appreciatively over the reddened skin, feeling the heat on her palm and fingers.

 

She left the paddle on the dresser and took Janet’s shaking hand, “And now the bed…” she said softly and led her to the end of her bed. Janet stood obediently spread-eagle with her arms raised while Aeryn tied the free ends of the long silk scarves tied high on the bottom posts on her four-poster bed. She wrapped the strong silk in a wide band around her wrists and secured them tightly so Janet could twist and writhe in the restraints.

 

She waited patiently while Aeryn suspended her between the posts and closed her eyes, content to revel in the pain that radiated from her backside and backs of her thighs. As was her custom, while Aeryn stepped into the harness with the largest of her jelly dildos and fetched a flogger, Janet unconsciously prepared herself for the remainder of the ordeal, unaware of the desire that began to flood between her legs as she fantasized it was Helen preparing to whip her.

 

Aeryn felt her clit tighten and her center swell with desire when she felt the marbled black and purple jelly dong bob heavily between her legs. She tightened the straps on the jock-style harness and chose a heavy leather flogger that would allow her to whip Janet hard, transforming the beating into a deep tissue massage she knew would provide Janet with the catharsis she obviously needed. She drew back her arm and struck Janet across the back, hard.

 

Janet’s head flew back and she cried out, panting.

 

“Hard enough?” Aeryn asked.

 

 _“Harder…”_ Janet panted, “As hard as you can, Aeryn… please.”

 

Aeryn’s brow furrowed in concern, but she drew back her arm and the flogger made a low whistling noise when she brought it down across her back with greater force and Janet screamed,

 

“YES!” she cried, gasping and moaning aloud. Part of Janet’s mind detached and she fantasized it was Helen who beat her, Helen who wore the harness with a large black and purple dong and she reveled in the pain that flamed and burned across her back.

 

Aeryn whipped her as hard as she dared, alternating between whipping her back and moving the flogger to her reddened thighs and backside. Acutely aware of the flood of arousal that dripped between her legs, she licked her lips, watching Janet shake and tremble and writhe in the bonds where she hung between the bedposts and savored her sweet whimpering cries and moans. When she felt she had whipped her as hard and as much as she could take, she quickly crossed the room to the armoire; discarding the flogger inside she opened a drawer and withdrew a large lubricant-loaded syringe. She tossed it on the bed and paused to admire her handiwork, and as her eyes drank in the red marks striping across Janet’s lovely skin she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the suspended form. She pressed her body against Janet’s, reveling in the heat that emanated from the tortured skin and cupped the full breasts, squeezing and rolling the stiffened points between her thumbs and fingers.

 

She smiled at Janet’s keening cries and whispered into damp hair. _“Are you ready for more?”_ __

Janet had refused to allow herself to cry, but tears of pain still slipped from her eyes and she sniffed determinedly, _“Yes… I…”_ she rasped, breathless, _“I… need you to fuck me.”_ Soft moans and grunts of pain escaped her while Aeryn untied her wrists and she appreciated the guiding hands when she urged her onto the bed,

 

“All fours…” she instructed quietly and Janet assumed the position on shaking limbs. Aeryn licked her lips in an unconscious desire to feast on the fresh wealth of cream flooding Janet’s opening and open folds, _Now, now,_ she reminded herself, _you’ve already had a taste …._ Janet’s feet dangled over the edge of her bed and she stepped between them, teasing the ready opening with the head of her large cock, __

_“Hard, Aeryn…”_ Janet begged softly, _“fuck me_ hard.” __

Aeryn nodded and worked the thick member inside as far as it would go. Janet groaned low in her chest and her back arched as the toy pushed its way deep until it bumped into her cervix,

 

 _“Oh god…”_ she moaned, _“Oh yes… please… please… harder…”_

 

Aeryn slowly pumped the shaft, responding to Janet’s cries for more until she held the slender hips in tightly gripping hands and slammed the cock inside and against Janet’s cervix as hard as she could. Janet’s head flew back, the cock was too big and her cervix not only hurt but her opening ached and stung from straining to accept the too-thick jelly toy and she trembled and moaned in pain even as she begged for more,

 

 _“Fuck me…”_ she wailed, _“oh Jesus fuck me FUCK ME!”_

 

Aeryn thrust the toy with vigor, her eyes half-lidded, unwilling to close on the sight of her cock pumping in Janet’s straining body. The sounds of wet from the wildly pumping toy and Janet’s moans and cries of passion and pain made Aeryn’s features twist in ecstasy.  She could feel Janet’s orgasm on rapid approach and she let go with one hand and reached behind the harness, pulling free the pocket rocket nestled inside the concealed pouch. Still pumping the shaft, she turned on the small toy and reaching around Janet’s pelvis, held the vibrating toy firmly against her clitoris.

 

Janet screamed as the orgasm descended, she collapsed on her forearms and gripped the quilt in her hands as wave after wave crashed over her and she surrendered completely. She reveled in the pain as Aeryn rammed the cock inside and her screams turned ragged when she shoved the vibrating bullet hard against her clitoris.

 

Aeryn slowed her thrusts when Janet’s screams transformed into gasps and groans and the wild convulsions slowed and her body sagged on the mattress. Breathless, she turned off the rocket and returned it to the pouch behind the harness she wore. She smoothed her hands over the reddened, tortured skin in a soothing gesture, _“That’s it…”_ she murmured, her voice gentle, “ _come as hard as you want.”_

 

She murmured soft words of comfort while Janet gasped and whimpered. Slowing her thrusts until she stilled the cock inside and waited until Janet finally managed,

 

 _“Take me…”_ she moaned, _“Come inside me…”_ she wearily pressed her forehead into the quilt and reaching behind her with both hands, pulled herself open in offering, _“sodomize me…”_

 

Tears brimmed in Aeryn’s eyes and she nodded, speechless. She retrieved the syringe she had tossed next to Janet and dispensed some lubricant onto the slightly open puckered opening, her breath catching in her throat when Janet’s hands slid around to grasp at the quilt on either side of her head, a sound that was half moan half sigh escaping her,

 

 _“Yes…”_ she whispered, _“do it….”_

 

Aeryn slid the length of the syringe within, dispensing the lube as she withdrew. Janet’s eyes closed tight and she smiled into the soft fabric, _Soon,_ she comforted herself, _soon…._

 

Aeryn tossed the empty syringe onto the floor and held Janet’s slim hips as she slowly pulled the jelly cock from her depths. She bit her tongue to keep from moaning aloud at the sight of the cum coated toy as it emerged from Janet’s stretched opening and she quickly held the dripping tip of the shaft against the puckered opening above. Janet tried to relax as Aeryn worked the end inside but her knuckles gripping the quilt turned white. She clenched her teeth, determined to take the length of the enormous cock in her rear channel,

 

 _“In me…”_ she rasped, her voice raw, _“In my ass… all the way.”_

 

Aeryn’s eyes were half-lidded as she watched the enormous marbled cock stretch Janet’s anus as she worked the length inside; _“Oh god…”_ she moaned _, “yes… yes, let me fuck this tight little hole….”_

While Janet’s vagina was unable to accommodate the entire length of the toy, there was no end to her rectum and Aeryn kept working the cock inside until she had buried the entire length inside her body and her pelvis pressed firmly against Janet’s backside. She slowly pumped the huge phallus, gradually increasing the strength of her thrusts until the lubricant was more evenly distributed within and she could freely pump the shaft in and out of Janet’s straining opening.

 

Tears of pain soaked the quilt beneath her and Janet whimpered and groaned. _Oh god it hurts!_ she cried silently, _It hurts, Helen, it hurts!_

 

“OH GOD, YES!” she exhorted aloud, “FUCK ME, AERYN!  FUCK ME!”

 

Aeryn’s features twisted in a mask of agonized passion and sliding a hand between the harness and her body, she pushed the button on the concealed pocket rocket and dug her toes into the soft carpet when it began buzzing frantically against her straining clit. Redoubling her efforts, she banged the jelly dildo in Janet’s body with fervor, loud grunting cries tearing from her as she watched the glistening black and purple toy ram inside Janet’s body while she screamed for more.

 

The vibrator on her clit pushed her over the edge and she buried the cock deep when the orgasm hit, the well-defined muscles bulged under the strain and her body became impossibly rigid as she roared and screamed.

 

 _“YES!”_ Janet cried aloud, her back arching as she surrendered utterly to Aeryn’s final thrust. At last, she let go of her emotions and she allowed the great heaving sobs full release, “ _OH GOD, YES! YES! YES!”_ In her mind, Janet fantasized it was Helen fucking her, coming inside her and she wailed brokenly, wishing with her soul that she could be with Helen again.

 

Panting, Aeryn limply collapsed over Janet’s form as the orgasm faded and her hand shook as she fumbled to turn off the pocket rocket between her legs. She swallowed audibly and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, mindful to keep the toy within still in spite of the renewed urge to thrust again. Unable to speak, she slowly forced herself upright so she could watch as she pulled the jelly dildo free. Part of her anxiously watched for blood as Janet moaned and part of her watched the emergence of the toy with renewed arousal. The head of the cock pulled from the widened opening with a heavy plop and she wordlessly caressed the quivering flesh, taking a moment to admire the artificially widened twin channels. She quickly loosened the straps and pulled the harness down, stepping out of it before taking it and the empty lube syringe to the adjoining bathroom and returned with a damp washcloth.

 

Janet’s racking sobs had quieted and she wept softly, she knew the atonement she felt was only temporary, but she accepted it. She obeyed the hands that guided her further onto the mattress and onto her stomach. Her throat twisted closed when she felt Aeryn gently cleaning her, _“Thank you…”_ she managed, and surrendered to tears once again.

 

Aeryn’s heart tightened in her chest at Janet’s cries and she sat next to her on the bed, smoothing her hand over the trembling form in light soothing circles. Janet had clearly achieved catharsis, but Aeryn was still concerned at the intensity of her release. “How do you feel now?” she asked quietly.

 

“ _Forgiven…”_ her voice was barely audible and she weakly turned on the mattress and crawled into Aeryn’s embrace, her head buried in her lap, “ _I want to feel forgiven…”_

 

***

 

Will sat next to her and she initiated the program, “Once the scan is complete, any biological artifacts matching Ashley’s DNA should show up.”

 

“If we do find something, how do we know that it's not from one of the super-abnormals that attacked us?” he asked, “Didn't they share Ashley's DNA?”

  
“I'm hopeful that there are ways to tell the difference.” She answered, not looking at him, “Either way, we should have a good idea of what really happened.”

 

He sighed heavily, “I can't tell if this is a real investigation or a train wreck.” Red-rimmed blue eyes turned to him and he stammered, “Oh, look, I-I’m sorry, I didn't…”

 

“No… no…” she shook her head determinedly, “Never stop doing that, being honest with me. Anything else and I will be insulted, thanks.”

  
He shrugged, “Sancho Panza had it easy.”

 

“We always had to face tragedy and loss in our work.” A wistful smile tugged at Helen’s lips, “I taught Ashley a saying when she was little, _‘Nos must amitto vivo en.’”_

 

Will translated, “We must let go to live on.”

 

“Well done, Sancho.” Helen’s smile was subtle but genuine, “You know, she always faced death better than me, among many things.”

 

“That must've been hard,” Will offered tentatively, “between you… and her...”

 

Helen nodded, trembling with the effort not to break down, “It was worth every minute we had together.”

 

~

 

Helen regarded at the sandwich on the plate with barely concealed impatience,

 

“Made it myself.” Will proudly announced.

 

“I'm not hungry,” she barely acknowledged him, “thank you.”

 

“Okay.” He said quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

 

“Will, would you please stop hovering?” she fussed agitatedly with her sling, “I can take care of myself.” She got up from her desk and crossed to the other computer with multiple monitors.

 

He set his lips in a thin line, “You've barely eaten for six days, you've had hardly any sleep… even for you, this is extreme.”

 

“I'm fine.” she said dismissively, not looking at him.

 

“Yes, and no…” he stepped over to where she sat, “you've got a clear mind, good focus, but you also, you know...you drift off now and again… you leave.”

She licked her lips and drew a careful breath, “It's just memories.”

 

He sighed, “If this bio-scan comes up empty…”

 

She turned to him, “What theory will I cook up next to keep this quest alive?”

 

“No,” he held up a hand to stop her, “I wasn't saying that...”

 

“Yes you were.”

 

He hunkered down next to her, “I need to know; are you searching for closure...or a miracle?”

 

“There are no such things as miracles...” she scoffed. The computer beeped and she turned to it, “It's found something.”

 

~

 

The scan she had designed indicated a match to Ashley’s DNA was located deep in the sanctuary’s subterranean access tunnels and the flashlight in Helen’s hand shook as she followed Will down the dark passageway.

 

“Okay,” he consulted the screen on the remote tablet, “the coordinates say it should be right...” he came to a stop and pointed his flashlight against the far wall, “there…”

 

“Oh, my god….” Helen breathed in horror when she saw the skeletonized hand and skull embedded in the stone wall.

 

Will froze, sickened, _Jesus, it looks like it’s crawling through the fucking wall…_ he turned to Helen, dismayed that she could be looking at the remains of her daughter.

 

Bigfoot caught up to them and her voice was flat and devoid of emotion when she addressed him, “Once you get it free bring it to the lab.” Unable to make eye contact, Helen turned away, leaving the way she came, “I'll run a full autopsy.”

 

~

 

Helen moved slowly while she examined the remains since moving too abruptly made the room spin in slow, dizzying circles in concert with her throbbing arm.

 

Will entered the lab, “Anything?”

 

“The remains are too burnt to determine a fingerprint pattern.” She carefully turned to him, “What about you?”

“X-rays we were able to recover,” he handed her the tablet with x-ray, “tissue analysis and bone density results will take a little more time.”

 

“This isn't Ashley...” she murmured, staring at the image on the screen.

His brows arched, “How can you tell?”

 

“Ashley broke her right femur when she was twelve years old. This one shows no evidence of re-calcification…. These are the remains of one of the other super-abnormals that attacked us.”

 

“Okay,” Will sighed, “well, it's something. Look, I... I know you were hoping for something else, but…” Helen’s eyes appeared to lose their focus and he leaned toward her, “Hey…”

 

“I'm feeling quite tired, Will.” she said faintly and turned away, “I think I’ll lie down for a while.”

 

He watched her awkwardly pull the glove from her hand as she left the lab.

 

~

Helen was back at her desk when he entered, she failed to acknowledge his presence so he simply ventured,

 

“Okay, so now that the baby steno issue has been resolved Doctor Li has departed for Beijing…”

 

“Einstein was right;” she interrupted, turning to him, “matter into energy.”

 

“Right,” he conceded, unfazed by the sudden change in subject, “but… landing where?”

 

“The EM field itself,” she gestured at the monitor, “ _that’s_ what the fluctuation means… that’s why I keep seeing…” her voice faded abruptly, stumbling briefly at the near-admission, “The… the magnitude and amplitude of the field increased at the time of her jump…. EM fields absorb energy… she could be somewhere in the EM field's buffer, trapped mid-teleport…”

 

 _Oh my god…_ he moaned silently, his exasperation growing, _“In_ the computer?” he said, plainly disbelieving.

 

She nodded earnestly, “Exactly.”

 

Will held up his hands in surrender, “That's insane.”

 

Helen shook her head, determined, “Ashley teleported with another super-abnormal. The fluctuation could be the EM field's buffer capturing both signatures and storing them…”

 

“Okay… okay,” Will felt his patience eroding and he shook his head in growing frustration, “even if she is _in_ here,” he gestured at the monitor with both hands, _“somehow_ … what are you gonna’ do? Are you gonna’ try to communicate with her? Are you gonna’ to try to pull her out somehow?”

“If we could recreate her signature… effectively,” she stammered, gesturing at the screen, growing desperate, “there may be a way to-to...”

 

“To what?” he flung up his hands, exasperated.

 

“ _There are so many variables to consider, Will!”_ she snapped, desperate, “So many _pieces_ to this puzzle…”

 

“Oh, Magnus…” he moaned aloud, turning away.

 

“One more test.” she begged him, pleading, “I run an exponential wave analysis. I search the EM field for her particular…”

 

“MAGNUS!” he shouted, making her jump. _Jesus Christ,_ he admonished himself, _stop yelling at her…._ He leaned on the workstation and drew a deep, calming breath, “Okay,” he said quietly, looking deeply into eyes filled with pain and fear, “okay… what next?”

 

~

 

 _Helen shut the door to the Jeep and approached the group, “I came to return this to you; it was given to me in the Amazon.” She handed the urn to an elder Native American._

 

 _

“He was Sahani,” he said as he examined the marking on the urn, his voice tranquil, “our last living shaman… spirit leader of our tribe.”

_

 _Helen nodded, “I was asked to bring him home.”_

 _  
  
_

_The elderly woman with the silver necklace and turquoise pendant she had spoken to earlier that day stepped forward. Smiling, she held the necklace out to her in weathered hands._

 _“We want you to have this...” the native elder told her, “It was meant for you… may it guide you through dark places and into the light….”_

 

Helen’s mind drifted, wandering in the memory, Bigfoot had set a fire in the fireplace and she sat in front of it, slumped wearily on the leather couch, staring at the necklace. Will sat behind her at her workstation when it suddenly beeped. He gazed sadly at the screen for a moment before turning to her,

 

“You should see this.”

 

Blinking, she struggled briefly rising from the couch and walked over to where he sat. The results window glowed darkly in the center of the screen,

 

 _ANALYSIS COMPLETE:_

 _No sign of requested energy signature within electromagnetic field._

  
Will rose and stood behind her, folding his arms across his chest, “I'm truly sorry, Magnus.”

 

Helen stared dully at the screen, feeling numb, “Tell everyone the memorial service will be day after tomorrow.” She turned and walked mechanically toward the door.

 

“What about Janet and Aeryn?” he called softly.

 

“Please call them…” she murmured, barely audible, “I need to reset the EM field.”

 

~

 

Bigfoot had greeted them at the door, and while Aeryn settled in her room, Janet found herself sitting on Ashley’s bed in her room. She shook her head, an amused snort escaping her; _It looks exactly like her bedroom in Vancouver…._ she thought, taking in the placement of the furniture and workout equipment. She sighed and gazed down at the Buddhist prayer bracelet she wore, made from the seeds of a Bodhi Tree, a soft, wry smile tugging at her lips. She had discovered meditation while in college; her roommate introduced her to the practice and as the years passed, Janet discovered the benefits of taking even five minutes a day to find a calm, quiet center of peace and she practiced the ritual at least twice daily ever since. _But you stopped when Ashley died…_ a small voice scolded. She slipped the bracelet from her wrist and positioned the header bead between her thumb and middle joint of her forefinger,

 

 _May all beings be…_

 

She sighed heavily and hung her head, _I can’t…_ she looked up and shook her head from side to side, _not yet._ She quickly pulled the bracelet back onto her wrist and rose from the bed. She crossed to Ashley’s dresser; their daughter was a creature of habit when it came to her personal belongings and Janet found the bracelet sitting on top of the box it had come in, placed in front of the mirror on her bureau. _Just like at home…_ Janet winced and pursed her lips although she had not said the words aloud; _I mean her room in Vancouver._

 

Ashley had tried meditation as a child, wanting to imitate her parent, but she was too impatient for the practice and Janet told her it was alright to wait and try it again when she was older. Once Ashley entered adolescence and she and Helen clashed with increasing frequency and intensity, Janet gave her daughter a Tibetan prayer bracelet made of skulls carved from ox bone. Although intended to remind the wearer of the temporary nature of life, Janet hoped the skull motif would appeal to Ashley’s teenage sense of _cool_ , and in the box she included the Buddhist prayer she herself used every day that she had artfully written on a small card.

 

 _Ashley and Helen had stomped off to neutral corners and Janet decided she shouldn’t wait until her daughter’s birthday for this particular gift. She caught up with the teen in her bedroom, Ashley’s brows had arched in surprise and she placed a heartfelt kiss on her mother’s cheek when she opened the box,_

 _“Do you remember how to use them?” Janet asked._

 

 _“I know…” Ashley had sighed, frustration from the argument with Helen still present in her voice, “the bracelet has sixteen beads and a header bead that you start and end on so by the time you finish you’ve said the meditation eighteen times… one plus eight is nine…”_

 

Janet smiled at the memory in spite of her brimming eyes,

 

 _Ashley gave her a fierce hug, “Thanks, Janet…” she had whispered gruffly, “the skulls are cool.”_

 

~

 

Her black sling matched her black dress and even under duress, Helen strived to be the perfect host; Janet knew she used the role to keep her emotions locked away so she was not offended when Helen greeted her and Aeryn with detached concern for their comfort, remaining distant as they made their way to the sanctuary chapel. The small group stood in silence and one by one, they approached the empty coffin and placed a memento inside.

 

With utter solemnity, the large simian-man approached and placed a small rustic doll he made for Ashley when she was five on the satin pillow. Henry followed with a book Ashley had given him, Aeryn an envelope with a handwritten letter and for the second time in as many weeks, Will left a rose in remembrance. One by one, they left the room until only Helen and Janet remained. Touching her for the first time that day, Helen clutched Janet’s hand and together, both Ashley’s parents approached the casket. Tears flowed freely down Janet’s face as she laid the ox bone prayer bracelet on the pillow and Helen followed suit, placing the silver and turquoise necklace so it touched the bracelet.

 

Tears spilled from Helen’s eyes and she smiled in spite of her trembling lips and chin, “She still had the card you wrote the prayer on…” she husked, her voice barely audible. “She knew the words by heart from reciting them so much, but that card is _so_ worn…” she sniffed and her voice shook, “your handwriting is barely visible anymore.”

 

More tears slid down Janet’s face and she clutched Helen’s hand, _“_ It was only a few lines,” she shrugged, _“May all beings be happy, content and fulfilled… May all beings be healed and whole again. May all be protected from harm and free from fear. May there be peace in this world… And throughout all possible universes.”_ Blinking to clear her vision, she sniffed and gave the hand a squeeze, _‘Thank you for letting me come…”_ she whispered and quietly left.

 

Helen only nodded, pulling a wad of wet tissues from her sling and pressing it against her nose and mouth before clutching the edge of the casket in a white-knuckled grip. A fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes and she sobbed as she stared at the necklace and bracelet lying together on the soft cushion. Minutes passed before she could bring herself to close the lid

 

 _“Nos must amitto vivo en…._ _we must let go_.”

 

Turning to the voice, Helen shook her head brokenly at the shining white-clad vision of her daughter, “I cannot.” she sobbed.

 

“You _have_ to, mom.”

 

“But you're...you're my life.” Helen managed, “Without you…”

 

“You'll never be without me… and I know that you will always love me, _no matter what._ ” she assured her, “ _But Janet loves you too….”_ She walked forward until she stood directly in front of her, “She always has… and you’ve never stopped loving her, so don’t be afraid anymore and let her back into your life _...._ You _belong together,_ in the haven of each other’s hearts.” Her smile was brilliant when she turned away.

 

 _“Ashley! “_ Helen cried and she closed her eyes against the sudden flood of bright white that blinded her, _“Please... I'm so sorry...”_ she whispered brokenly, and opened her eyes to an empty room.

 

~

 

The others had wandered back to the kitchen to prepare a late lunch that no one would likely eat, but Janet had stayed behind, waiting outside the chapel doors. In spite of her stoic endurance, Helen looked near collapse and Janet needed to make sure she was able to return to the main building.

 

After nervously checking her watch for the umpteenth time, she drew a deep breath and ventured back inside the sanctuary chapel. Left in disrepair, Helen left the building in its original state when she bought the property decades before. When Janet entered, she could hear Helen weeping and she quietly made her way down the center aisle and sat next to her on the armrest of the wooden bench. Draping her arms around her, Janet pulled Helen's head against her chest and rocked her gently, making Helen weep even harder at the feel of Janet’s touch. She laid her cheek on the dark hair and more tears spilled from her closed eyes, overwhelmed by the conflicting emotions of the loss of their child and joy at the feel of the woman in her arms.

 

When Helen’s tears finally stopped, she sat up and blew her nose, “Thank you...” she nodded, pulling Janet to sit next to her on the pew. “You know,” she sniffed and cleared her throat, “Those prayer beads gave her a lot of peace… and comfort during some very trying times between her and I… this last year…” She pressed the damp tissue against her running nose and sniffed again, “She said it really helped her find her… _her center…”_ Helen’s throat twisted closed with the memory and she began to cry again. “I would pass by her room and hear her reciting that…” Helen rasped, her voice raw, “counting off the recitations on her bracelet...” the sob that broke from her choked off the rest of her sentence and she shook her head helplessly from side to side, “ _I’m sorry,”_ she wept brokenly, _“I’m so sorry….”_

 

Janet nodded and smoothed back the dark hair from her tearstained face.

 

 _“I love her so much…”_ Helen whispered brokenly.

 

 _“Always…”_ Janet whispered back, _“We always will.”_

 

Helen sniffed again, this time with determination and she turned her red-rimmed eyes to Janet’s, _“Please stay…”_ she rasped, _“You were more of a mother to her than I ever was…”_

 

“That’s not true…” Janet shook her head emphatically from side to side.

 

 _“It is,”_ Helen sniffed _,_ “she only came back because she thought she could reunite us…”

 

“Well _that’s_ true…”A small wry grin tugged at Janet’s mouth before her expression turned earnest again, “You were a good mother, Helen… _you were_. You loved her and she knew that.”

 

Helen nodded tearfully, _“I know…”_ she whispered thickly and cleared her throat, “And I also know she wants you to stay…” she reached awkwardly with her left hand to clasp at Janet’s, “and I want you to stay too…. I was wrong to send you away, I… I love you Janet, I never _ever_ stopped, I need you in my life. _Please_ …” she gulped and struggled to force the words past her tremulous lips and chin, “if you’ll have me…”

 

Fresh tears spilled from Janet’s eyes, _“Oh Helen…”_ her lips and chin trembled violently and she turned to look forlornly at the empty casket, “you don’t know how I’ve longed to hear you say that. I know Ashley desperately wanted us to get back together…”

 

“She was right…” Helen nodded, squeezing the hand, “But after you were hurt I was afraid…” Janet turned miserable red-rimmed brown eyes back to her and she shook her head apologetically, “after spending more than a lifetime watching my friends grow old and die I… I,” her voice broke and her throat twisted closed as she struggled to speak through sobs that broke from her, “I couldn’t face losing the one I loved… not again.”

 

Janet wept silently but she managed, “And you sent me away…”

 

Helen nodded, her eyes closed in shame.

 

“How was that different, Helen?” she asked, honestly perplexed, “and when you pushed me away you pushed Ashley away too…” she shook her head in exasperation, “I still don’t understand, you sent me away because you were afraid of losing me and lost us both.”

 

“I know… I…” Helen sobbed; hanging her head, _“I know that now…”_ she whispered brokenly, pressing the sodden lump of tissue against her nose, “When Ashley finally came back… I realized my life would never be complete… I’d _never_ be happy… unless you were with me. I tried to shut that part of myself away so I wouldn’t be hurt again. It was selfish … I was wrong.” she turned to her, “All I’ve wanted since that dark time is for you both to forgive me... but I was too afraid to ask.” She exhaled heavily, relieved the words had finally come out, _“Please…”_ she whispered, her eyes pleading, “can you forgive me?”

 

“Yes…” Janet sniffed, “I forgive you…” she placed a kiss on her cheek, “I forgive you for sending me away, but Helen,” she pushed the dark hair from her face and looked at her earnestly, “the accident was not your fault…” Helen’s eyes closed and she drooped further in the pew and Janet gave her a slight shake, “Helen, _it was an accident;_ it was no one’s fault. I know Ashley blamed you but she was just scared and angry and… and she was just entering adolescence for god’s sakes…” she shrugged, “the teen years are always hell…” Helen snorted in wry amusement and Janet finally smiled faintly, “She was just scared….  I _never_ blamed you, so if you’re finally ready to accept that then are you ready to accept the rest?”

 

Helen looked at her with what looked like hope in her watery blue eyes.

 

“I might outlive you, for all you know…” Janet gently teased, “Why can’t we just love each other while we’re both still here?”

 

 _“I love you, Janet Fraiser.”_ Helen whispered earnestly, _“Please…_ please _come back to me.”_

 

“I will,” Janet smiled tremulously and pulled her into her arms once again, _“I’ll stay…”_ she murmured, _“I’ll stay.”_

 

~

 

She asked Bigfoot to send some tea and toast to Helen’s room, but when it was clear Helen could only manage a few bites, she took her by the hand and led her to the bedroom.

 

“I’m fine.” Helen insisted.

 

“You’re exhausted,” Janet countered gently but her voice was firm, “it’s fine if you don’t sleep, just close your eyes for a while…” she unhooked the sling and gently pulled it free.

 

Helen stepped out of her shoes while Janet unzipped her dress. She shrugged out of the garment and sat heavily on the bed, “Does Aeryn need to go back today?”

 

“Yes,” Janet nodded, helping her under the covers, her eyes taking quiet inventory of the scrapes and bruises that still covered Helen’s body, “There’s still a lot to do since the attacks.” She sat on the mattress next to her, “She’s going to make an exceptional head of house, Helen,” she took her hand and squeezed it, “I promise.”

 

“Of course she will,” Helen murmured, “you’re her mentor.”

 

Janet’s smile faded a fraction, “Yes, well,” she gave her hand a pat, “I need to talk to her before she goes…”

 

 _“Please,”_ Helen grasped the hand, “stay a little, so I can look at you.”

 

Janet snorted and sighed, “Alright,” she relented and kicking off her heels, walked around the bed and lay on top the covers, next to her. Helen gave her a tired smile, her eyelids drooping, “For heaven’s sake,” Janet scolded softly, “Come here,” she scooted closer and pulled the dark head against her chest, “Close your eyes and rest.” she commanded quietly.

 

Helen sighed and sank into the embrace, “Thank you…” she mumbled.

 

Janet’s eyes closed, content to listen to Helen’s breathing slow and become more even. She waited for her to slip deeper into sleep when she heard a small cry issue from her throat. Her brow knitted in concern when Helen twitched and whimpered again. Janet carefully unbuttoned her blouse, careful not to wake her and slipped a breast free. Tilting Helen slightly in the crook of her arm, she teased the parted lips with her nipple until Helen’s mouth abruptly clamped around it. _“Shh…”_ she soothed, stroking the downy soft cheek, _“It’s alright, baby…”_ she whispered, her eyes brimming at the endearment she hadn’t used in years, _“Just rest now…”_

 

She let Helen suckle her nipple until she slipped down into a deeper, seemingly dreamless sleep before pulling her breast from Helen’s slack mouth and tucking it back into her bra, _I love you, Helen Magnus_ she thought, her eyes brimming for the umpteenth time that day. She rearranged her clothes and stepped back into her shoes, her eyes drinking in Helen’s sleeping form in the bed. _Can it really be this easy?_ she thought, and quietly left, in search of Aeryn.

 

 _And what, exactly,_ a small voice chided distantly, _has been_ easy _about this?_

 

~

 

She found Aeryn in Will’s office, discussing the needs of the displaced abnormals both sanctuaries were housing and together, both women returned to her room so they could change from their black funeral attire.

 

“So,’ Aeryn arched her dark brows expressively, “am I returning to Vancouver alone?”

 

Janet arched her brows in return, “Am I that transparent?”

 

“No,” Aeryn shook her head decisively, “I assumed you’d be staying on for a while.” She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Janet, “You both lost a child…” she looked down at her, “And you have more to work out now, don’t you?”

 

Janet looked away and sighed, briefly closing her eyes in exhaustion.

 

“She still loves you, you know.” Aeryn gave her a quick squeeze to make her look at her again, “When the two of you are in the same room together the love between you is absolutely palpable.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes,” Aeryn’s brow furrowed in good humor, “it’s patently obvious you are deeply in love with her.”

 

“I am.” Janet said simply.

 

Aeryn smiled softly, “I hope to find that kind of love one day.”

 

“You deserve to.” Janet nodded, suddenly solemn, “Thank you, Aeryn,” she husked, “for _everything.”_

 

“One last time then,” she smiled; smoothing her hand over the upturned face and short-cropped blond hair, _“for old time’s sake…”_ she rasped and placed her mouth hotly over Janet’s.

 

Janet opened her mouth, ever submissive in the bedroom, and clasped the sharp angular features in her hands. Aeryn’s tongue plundered her mouth while her hands roamed hotly over Janet’s breasts and around to rub the small back. She roughly grabbed her backside, squeezing the mounds and smiling when the petite woman groaned softly in her mouth. She unbuttoned and unzipped the black skirt Janet wore, letting it fall to the floor when she slid her hand under the waistband and around to grab the mound between her legs.

 

 _Oh god…_ Janet moaned inwardly, Aeryn’s hand squeezed and rubbed through her panties and she pulled her mouth away, panting, _“Take me…”_ she begged, _“one last time, Aeryn….”_

 

Aeryn plunged her tongue back inside Janet’s mouth and continued to roughly squeeze and massage her mound as she backed her to the bed. She pushed her onto the mattress and quickly shed her mourning clothes while Janet pulled back the covers and took off her blouse and bra. Aeryn climbed on top of her before she could shed her panties, and gripped her mound again,

 

 _“Mmm…”_ Aeryn hummed against her neck, “I will miss this.” she murmured thickly and squeezed and rubbed the thin fabric until Janet writhed and keened softly beneath her. Straddling her slender thigh, Aeryn slid her hand inside the panties and slid her middle finger deep into thick, sodden folds. She added her forefinger and stroked both through the folds, coating them with Janet’s thick creamy cum and withdrew, sliding the digits into her mouth, _“I will miss tasting you…”_ she breathed, savoring the salty sweetness.

 

She released the thigh between her legs and pulled Janet’s panties down and off then recaptured the leg between her own again. She bent to suckle Janet’s breast and returned the hand between her legs, making quick work of sliding two fingers deep inside and making Janet arch and undulate against her. _I will miss this…_ she thought as she suckled the hardened structure of Janet’s nipple deep in her mouth and plunged a third finger deep in her body, her own hot cum pouring from her center and onto Janet’s thigh when the petite woman arched stiffly and moaned low beneath her. Her cum-slick thumb worked the hood from Janet’s rock-hard clit; she rubbed it in fierce response to the abundant flood of creamy lubricant flowing between her legs and she ground violently on Janet’s thigh. With a wet, slurping sound, she released Janet’s breast and thrust her tongue back in her mouth, making her fellate it while her fingers pumped and plunged deep in Janet’s body without mercy. Her thumb rubbed Janet’s clit in a fury and she curled the fingers inside, roughly stroking the pebbled patch within until Janet stiffened and jerked spasmodically, emitting quiet strangled cries. Aeryn’s eyes squeezed shut as Janet’s climax triggered her own and she struggled to keep plunging her tongue and fingers while she came, convulsing while ejaculate squirted from their bodies and into Aeryn’s hand and Janet’s thigh.

 

When she pulled her lips and tongue from Janet’s mouth they panted and grunted as the waves crashed over and into their bodies, shaking them in violent ecstasy. Minutes passed before the orgasms finally began to fade and Aeryn stilled her fingers and pulled them free. Her eyes closed in reverence at Janet’s soft cry and she licked and suckled the creamy cum and clear ejaculate from her hand and fingers. Janet lay panting when Aeryn suddenly turned on the bed and crawled over her limp form, positioning her still dripping center over Janet’s mouth and plunged her tongue between Janet’s legs. To keep from crying out, Janet pulled the thickened wet folds onto her mouth and plunged her tongue between them, her eyes slamming shut when Aeryn gripped her backside in firm hands and growled, pressing further into her flesh. She rolled Janet onto her side and more minutes passed as they fed from each other a final time, mouthing and tonguing rigid clits and fluttering folds and licking away every drop of thick salt-sweet cream that poured in renewed arousal from hungry openings. They teased more of the sweet, clear ejaculate from throbbing urethral openings when both women came again, groaning and undulating slowly into one another until the waves faded and their heads sank gratefully onto trembling inner thighs.

 

When Aeryn again turned on the bed, she gathered Janet into her arms and looked down into pale brown eyes, her expression at once tender and wistful, “Thank you.” she murmured, “thank you for this time together… and thank you for sharing your time with Ashley with me.” Her eyes brimmed and before Janet could speak she added, _“I will never forget it...”_ she whispered in a thick voice and bent to place a final kiss on Janet’s mouth.

 

Tears slipped from the corners of Janet’s eyes as she obediently opened her mouth for Aeryn’s tongue. Both women moaned quietly as they combined their essences for the last time, savoring and devouring the taste of their sex until none remained.

 

“Congratulations, Doctor Sun,” Janet smiled at her, “You are now the head of house in the Vancouver sanctuary.”

 

 _“Ah…”_ Aeryn grinned own at her, “I knew I’d get that job one day if I slept with the boss.”

 

Janet snorted softly, “Thank you for all of it, Aeryn.” Janet’s expression turned serious, “You got me through some very dark and difficult times…” she clasped the strong jaw in her hand, “And you are more than capable of running that place by yourself… until you recruit a suitable protégé, anyway….”

 

Aeryn noted the twinkle in her eye, “Ah, yes,” she sighed, “My Lady Greystoke awaits…” the teasing smile faded and she regarded her again, “Are you going to be okay here?”

 

“I’m going to take it one day at a time for now…” Janet nodded, “but I will need some extra clothes.”

 

“I’ll overnight them to you.”

 

“Thanks…” Janet sighed again, “You know, when Helen found me I was about to enter the Air Force… and you actually did join the Air Force.” She let go of the powerful features, “The Royal Air Force.”

 

“Just think,” Aeryn’s brows arched, “if not for Helen Magnus we never would have known each other.”

 

~

 

After Aeryn left Janet returned to Helen’s room and gently woke her. She dressed her in a dressing gown and together both women ate the dinner Bigfoot brought for them.

 

“It’s not that late,” Janet said, tucking the long dark hair behind a beautifully sculpted ear and making Helen smile faintly at the familiar gesture, “But I think you should go to bed.”

 

“Only if you join me.”

 

Janet seemed to regard her carefully.

 

“I…” Helen looked stricken, “I didn’t mean to be presumptuous… if you’d rather have a room to yourself…”

 

“It’s okay...” Janet smiled and pulling her to her feet, led her through the connecting door and into the bedroom, closing and locking it behind them, “Nothing seems changed...” she said, looking again at the room she had shared for so many years,

 

“Your absence was change enough.” Helen said remorsefully and taking Janet’s hand, pressed it against her lips, “May I never be so stupid ever again.”

 

Janet unclipped Helen’s sling and carefully removed it. She tossed it on a chair then untied the cloth belt around her waist.

 

“I _can_ help…” Helen murmured in a softly self-deprecating tone as she shrugged out of the silken robe.

 

“I know,” Janet replied, quickly unhooking the taller woman’s bra and pulling down her panties, her breath catching again at being able to touch Helen in such an intimate manner after such a long absence.  She urged her into the large four-poster bed and Helen watched silently from beneath rapidly warming sheets as Janet quickly undressed.

 

She slid under the covers and when she pulled Helen to her, she again settled into the circle of her arms and sucked a plump nipple in her mouth, making Janet gasp. Helen’s mouth felt hot and she squirmed beneath the urgent ministrations,

 

 _“Thank you allowing me this comfort earlier…”_ she husked against the flesh.

 

Tears brimmed in Janet’s eyes and she petted the long hair, “Thank you for bringing me back.” she said simply.

 

The cast on Helen’s arm was cumbersome and she tucked it against her chest while her free hand fondled Janet’s other breast. She suckled the stiffening nipple contentedly, a lump forming in her throat as she rejoiced and delighted in the feel of Janet’s breasts in her hand and mouth.

 

After several minutes passed their ardor grew and Helen pulled from the taut flesh, _“Oh Janet…”_ she moaned softly, _“oh my Janet…”_ and pulled her down for a heated kiss.

 

Janet’s eyes closed in rapture as their tongues danced and entwined in their mouths. Her breath grew short and the room began to tilt at wonderfully pleasing angle, _“Tell me...”_ she rasped, rubbing against Helen with increasing urgency, _“tell me what you’d like.”_

 

Helen returned to suckling her nipple again, and a long minute passed before she finally pulled her lips from the rock hard structure, “I want you to take me with the Mantric Sysil.” she said simply. “I still have all our toys.”

 

Janet grinned, “It’s been a while.” She placed a wet open-mouth kiss on her lips and slid from the bed, “Are they still where we used to keep them?” she asked as she crossed the room to the large dresser bureau.

 

“Yes…” Helen watched, unconsciously flexing her unencumbered hand as she watched Janet’s beautiful nude form with half-lidded eyes.

 

Janet privately noted again how everything looked exactly as she had left it seven years before, “You never changed _anything_ in h…” her voice trailed away when her eyes fell on the empty wall above the dresser and the four bare nails still stuck in the wallpaper.  Looking down she saw the four framed pictures, lying facedown on top of the bureau.

 

Pain clouded Helen’s eyes, “After you left…”

 

“You sent me away.” Janet spoke quietly but there was an edge to her voice and Helen hurried to correct herself,

 

“Yes… I’m sorry,” she swallowed the lump from her throat when Janet turned wounded eyes to her. “After I sent you away… I couldn’t bear to look at them anymore…. But I couldn’t bear to have them out of my sight either.”

 

Janet sighed and turned back to the pictures.

 

Helen drew a deep, if cautious breath, “If it’s alright, I’d like to re-hang them.”

 

Janet nodded, “Tomorrow,” she said quietly and lifted the pictures, pausing to look briefly at each one before propping it face up against the wall. When they were mounted the two midsize paintings hung on either side of a larger painting that was mounted over a smaller picture that displayed beautifully lettered text and Janet read the words silently,

 

 _“The Great Medicine of the Three Mountain Peaks is to be found in the body of the woman and is composed of three juices, or essences: one from the woman's mouth, another from her breasts, and the third, the most powerful, from the Grotto of the White Tiger, which is at the Peak of the Purple Mushroom (the mons veneris).”_

 _–[Octavio Paz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavio_Paz). Conjunctions and Disjunctions. trans. Helen R. Lane. 1975. (London: [Wildwood House](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wildwood_House_\(publisher\)&action=edit&redlink=1), 1969) p. 97._

 

A soft smile tugged at Janet’s lips, remembering the weeks she spent carefully arranging and designing the layout for Helen’s favorite written expression of female sexuality. She made it when Helen painted her in the exact same pose as the female figure in Gustave Courbet’s oil, _L’Origine du Monde_ /The Origin of the World, painted in 1866. At first Janet teased her, playfully accusing Helen of being the model in the painting until Helen pointed out the model’s pubic hair was dark, while her own was a confounding dark blond. But Janet had played hard to get, and although she knew Helen would never have posed nude for a male artist, she teased that Helen only managed to obtain the original artwork because she made love to the model who posed for the painting.

 

 _“For heaven’s sake, Janet,” Helen had slumped in their bed and sputtered, exasperated, “I was young… only twenty and she was an older… experienced…”_

 

To her grumpy consternation, her inadvertent admission that she actually had a brief affair with the model made Janet laugh rowdily and tease her mercilessly. Unconsciously, Janet’s smile widened at the memory. _We had such fun…_ she remembered how Helen’s feigned  indifference revealed barely concealed exasperation with her lover’s good natured acceptance of a painting of a previous lover hanging in their bedroom,

 

 _“That was_ so _long ago…” Janet had reassured her then snickered impishly,_ “ _and at least her face doesn’t show…”_

 

Not to be outdone, Helen sold the painting through one of her art dealer friends and painted Janet in the exact same pose; mounting the exquisite rendering between the two faded, color drawings by [Édouard-Henri Avril](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard-Henri_Avril), depicting the life of [Sappho](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho). In the first, Sappho reclined on a pallet, her legs spread languidly as a young maiden knelt between them and feasted from her mentor’s center while two mermaids made love in the background. In the second, a young woman lay on a bed, a leg dangling over the edge while Sappho knelt on the mattress between her parted legs; the white straps of the harness and the phallus visible as she thrust inside her willing apprentice.

 

Janet shook her head slowly in nostalgic amusement, “Those were good times, weren’t they, Helen?” she murmured.

 

“I recall the love-making after each afternoon of painting was exceptionally enjoyable as well.” Helen reminded gently although her soft smile faded when her memory skipped ahead in time to the miserable weeks and months that followed after she sent Janet to the Vancouver sanctuary. She spent many nights in their bedroom, alone and masturbating with thick vibrators while she stared at the painting of Janet’s exposed breast, softly furred mound and slightly parted labia between the creamy white thighs. She would ruthlessly pound the toy inside until a violent orgasm shook her without mercy and made her cry out in unfulfilled release.

 

“Yes,” Janet agreed, “But I’ll never know how I let you hang this in our…” her voice trailed away again, “I mean _your_ …”

 

“This never stopped being _our_ bedroom, Janet.” Helen’s voice sounded hoarse, “I swear no other woman has been in this bed… and I have not made love to anyone else since…”

 

Janet licked her lips and sighed, “Helen…” she walked back to the bed, “I have…” she sat on the mattress and resisted the urge to clasp the hand in the fiberglass cast, “After Aeryn settled in she… she…”

 

“Fell in love with you?” Helen offered gently.

 

“Well,” Janet emitted an amused, self-deprecating sound, “Actually, she said she was _attracted_ to me, but wanted to pursue a physical relationship so she could discover if she was, in fact, _in love_ with me.”

 

Helen gave her a soft, reassuring smile, “That sounds like Aeryn.”

 

“And I told her I could never love her…” Janet’s voice sounded strained and she swallowed past the lump that stubbornly returned to the middle of her throat, “Because I would never stop being in love with you.” Helen’s casted hand reached for her and she reluctantly, gently entwined the encumbered fingers with her own, “Helen, she always kept her own room, but we… came together in times of stress…. To provide comfort, and release….”

 

“Sex for its own sake...” Helen squeezed the fingers, _“Janet…”_ she implored until Janet turned shame-filled eyes to her, “I made love to _many_ women on exactly that basis until I met you… I had only been in love once before, and when that… ended, I vowed to never let another in my heart… until I met you.” Blue looked piercingly into brown, “I know you loved me and I do not bear a grudge against you for sleeping with her.”

 

Janet swiped at a tear that dared slip from her eye and she sniffed, “Well,” she cleared her throat, trying to lighten the tone, “I did manage _not_ to shout out your name when we did have sex.” She gave a half shrug and sniffed again, “But I always… _always_ pretended it was you making love to me.” She let go of the hand and covered her eyes, “I never stopped hoping I would open my eyes and it would be you on top of me… _touching me.”_ she whispered. Soft sobs broke from her and Helen pulled gently until she lay on her chest.

 

 _“Shh…”_ Helen whispered, stroking the soft highlighted hair with her unencumbered hand, “It’s alright, Janet… it is….” Her own eyes brimmed again and she gulped, “I was such a stupid fool to send you away…” Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, “For a long time I told myself you were better off away from me; the hundred and fifty year old who doesn’t age… but I was too afraid… and scared… and I stupidly threw away years of loving you when you should have been here.” Her chin quivered and her voice shook when she rasped in a hoarse whisper, _“Ashley was right, I should have brought you home…”_ she turned her head away and covered her eyes in renewed shame.

 

Janet sniffed and placed a quaking kiss over Helen’s heart and slowly inched her way on top, _“Helen…”_ she whispered and brushed her lips over Helen’s. She gently pulled the hand from Helen’s eyes while her lips and tongue gently caressed and explored in a healing embrace before pulling back far enough to look down into red-rimmed blue, “I love you, Helen Magnus.” she stated simply, “I always have… and I always will.”

 

Helen’s eyes brimmed again and a sound that was half chuckle half sob erupted from her, “I love you, Janet Fraiser.” She sniffed and cleared her throat again, “May I ask a question?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Would you like to use a strap-on on me?”

 

“Yes…” Janet chuckled, “Later...” she sat up and pulled a pillow from the other side of the bed, “But first I’d like to make sure you’re ready to receive me, Doctor Magnus.” Forgetting their tear-stained faces, she slid a pillow under Helen’s backside and settled between her spread legs.

 

Helen gripped the sheet in her free hand, her breath growing short as she watched Janet caress her mound, running her fingers through dark blond and mewling when she pressed her face deeply into the soft curls. Soft grunting cries broke from her chest as Janet’s questing nose and tongue delved further between her legs.

 

 _“Janet!”_ she cried, feeling the muscled organ finally lick hotly between her burning folds.

 

Desperate, keening cries issued from deep in Janet’s chest as the thick, familiar musky taste and smell of Helen’s sex assailed her nostrils and melted on her tongue and she breathed in her scent, taking her deep in her lungs. Tears spilled from her eyes and she licked and suckled the thick, ripening folds in her mouth; the tip of her tongue delving further into the center flooded with hot creamy cum. _Oh sweet Jesus…_ her mind reeled and her heart swelled as she fed on the sacred essence, _at last…_ she cried silently, _at last…._

 

Helen’s body grew stiff and she arched on the mattress, her writhing body bucking against the invading tongue that licked the fleshy hood from the wide, thickened clitoris. Unable to resist the lure of the musky ambrosia, Janet’s lips and tongue slid back over fluttering engorged folds and she licked and laved the endless wave of creamy lubrication that flooded from deep inside Helen’s body, letting her thumb and fingertips stroke and twist and rub the wide clitoris into a stiff and straining rounded bulbous erection.

 

She would have preferred to prolong the sensations but in a small, clinically detached part of Helen’s brain knew she could not slow the massive orgasm on rapid approach and she wailed, _“Oh god!  Janet! I’m coming!  I’M COM…”_

 

Janet plunged her tongue one last time; laving the clutching inner walls as deeply as she could then covered the smaller opening with sucking lips and teased the fluttering entrance with the tip of her tongue until Helen’s body stiffened rigidly and exploded. She smiled into the convulsing flesh when Helen’s cries echoed the bursts of the long remembered syrupy sweet ejaculate that blasted in her mouth. She stayed firmly attached but sobbed as the guilt she had struggled to control for seven years finally surfaced and lifted from her. She tightened the hands she wrapped around Helen’s quaking rigid thighs and pressed even further into her exploding body. She whimpered and cried while she fed, feeling the guilt evaporate, and in its place a complex spectrum of joy wash over and through every cell while Helen’s orgasm made her body arch rigidly off the bed, wildly undulating and convulsing while she cried out in ecstatic healing rapture.

 

Long minutes passed as the massive orgasm eventually faded and Helen continued to sob and shudder and quake in the aftermath. Janet never released her hold, and after she had licked away every molecule of sexual essence from between her legs, she lay with her head resting on Helen’s mound and smoothed a hand over her heaving form until her breathing and heart slowed to a more manageable rate.

 

 _“Janet…”_ She heard her call softly. __

“Yes?” she murmured into damp dark blond.

 

“Please come here…” Helen implored her, “please let me taste you…”

 

Janet crawled her way up the bed and placed a kiss on Helen’s mouth that made both women moan. _“Please, Janet…”_ Helen begged, her good hand urging as she tugged on the petite woman’s backside.

 

Janet’s eyebrows arched in a peak and she smiled. Mindful of her injures, she knelt over Helen’s face and took a steadying breath when she placed her hands on the beautifully carved headboard; her eyes riveted on the slightly faded and worn spots her hands had created over the years by gripping the wood in a white-knuckled grip when Helen feasted between her legs. So focused on her hands and memory that the first lick inside her folds took her by surprise and she gasped and grunted aloud, her head arching back as Helen left her casted arm on the mattress and wrapped her bandaged arm tightly around her thigh.

 

 _“Nuh-nughhh…”_ Janet’s eyes closed tight and she groaned at the feel of Helen’s tongue delving deep in her body. Her hips undulated of their own accord and she ground her length on Helen’s mouth.

 

Tears streamed from her eyes as Helen feasted, overwhelmed by the familiar feel of Janet’s tender flesh and exquisite taste of salt-sweet cream, _Thank you…_ she wept silently while she fed, _thank you…_.Soft urgent noises broke from her as she laved and suckled between quivering rigid folds, feeding hungrily until Janet began jerking above her and cried out, abruptly ejaculating in her mouth.

 

Janet’s hands shook where they tightly gripped the headboard and she gasped raggedly for breath as she moaned and cried. Tears streamed down her face as she came, hearing and feeling Helen as she wept and fed between her legs amid the waves of pleasure that shook her. She whimpered and moaned, feeling the squirts of ejaculate diminish as the orgasm faded and she struggled to catch her breath and steady her emotions.

 

Shaking, she carefully crawled back down Helen’s body and propping herself on an elbow, cupped the flushed cheek in a trembling hand, _“Thank you...”_ she whispered tremulously and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

 

Helen closed her red-rimmed eyes and melted in the embrace, her body sinking further into the mattress as Janet slowly lowered her weight on top of her. The kiss deepened as their tongues entwined and they tasted each other, their tongues laving languidly first in Helen’s mouth and then in Janet’s.

 

“That’s the essence I always remembered….” Helen smiled, gladly accepting Janet’s tongue when she pressed her mouth over hers for another long embrace.

 

~

 

They had drifted off, neglecting to pull the covers back over them and Janet awoke in the middle of the night, feeling chilled and pulled the sheet and comforter over their nude forms.

 

“I’m’ sorry,” Helen murmured quietly, “I should have done that…”

 

Janet arranged the covers around them and pressed close against her, “How long have you been awake?”

 

“Not long.”

 

“Do you need some pain medication?”

 

“No,” Helen shook her head on the pillow, “not anymore.”

 

“My god,” Janet snorted softly in mild exasperation, “some things never change.” A flicker of anxiety flashed in Helen’s eyes and Janet hurried, “and I think you’ll see I haven’t changed that much either...” her smile widening when Helen smiled back. She placed a gentle, heartfelt kiss on her lips, “Are you hungry?” she asked, brushing her thumb across Helen’s lips, “Would you like to go down and raid the kitchen?”

 

Helen shook her head, “Not unless you’re hungry…” while they talked she fondled one of Janet’s breasts, watching as the nipple stiffened between her squeezing and twisting thumb and middle finger, “Would you make love to me?”

 

Janet placed a hand over the one on her breast and leaned in for another kiss, “ _Yes…_ ” she smiled against her mouth, “I believe you requested a very special toy earlier.” She slid from the bed and made her way back to the dresser; pulling open the second, larger drawer she searched by feel for the double dong sex toy Helen had asked for, smiling as her fingers trailed over and probed among the silken bags in the drawer.

 

Only Bigfoot had permission to enter their bedroom and apart from Helen, he was the only person Janet trusted more that Aeryn, or as she and Helen addressed him, _My Friend_. Despite the passage of time, it still amazed her that she not only allowed Helen to paint an erotic nude portrait of her that she had posed for, but that she then allowed her to hang it in their bedroom. Each week the large Meganthropus entered to clean and dust, and both women trusted him not to snoop in their drawer of sex toys and not to comment on the erotic art or inquire as to the identity of the nude model posed so openly in the centermost painting.

 

Watching Janet search for the double dildo, Helen’s thoughts also drifted to those of her large friend. A loyal servant and trusted ally for decades, she knew him as the soul of discretion; he never commented on or asked about the erotic art when Helen took them from their place on the wall and left them facedown on the dresser, he had simply dusted them as he did the rest of the furniture. _For seven long years…_ she thought distantly, _hoping I would see the error of my ways and bring my Janet and Ashley home…_ She squeezed her eyes closed; pushing the thought temporarily from her mind and when she opened them again Janet had found the double-ended toy.

 

The Mantric Sysil was a double dildo; made from differing types of silicone, and Janet chewed her lower lip in concentration as she raised a foot on an overstuffed chair and inserted the bent holding shaft. Her center burned with demanding need and she sighed at the intrusion of the firm silicone as it slid inside her well-lubricated inner walls. She squeezed the toy with a pleasurable moan and looked expectantly at Helen with half-lidded eyes,

 

“Would the matching bullet still work?”

Helen slid from the bed, nodding, “The batteries will work…” she pulled the small vibrating bullet from the drawer and knelt to insert it into the opening under the thrusting shaft.

 

Helen worked the bullet into the vented, flexible opening and Janet grunted when the holding shaft moved inside her. “So,” Janet placed her hands on the soft dark hair, “you still used the vibes?”

 

“Only when I couldn’t take missing you anymore,” she replied, her voice soft as she worked the bullet in the phallus, her gaze drifting from the toy to Janet’s softly furred mound, “but even then the orgasms would only make me cry…” she finished and stroked her cheek against the soft, textured phallus, “and not in a forgiving way.”

 

Janet’s brow furrowed at the admission and she gasped in surprise when Helen took the end of the shaft in her mouth. Helen turned earnest blue to her as she opened her mouth wider and fellated the silicone dong deep in her throat. Janet groaned aloud, she knew deep throating was something Helen had only ever done with her and she shakily planted her feet on the floor as Helen sucked and stroked the cock in her mouth, making the holding shaft rock inside her depths with delicious slowness. Janet clenched her inner muscles around the toy and stroking her fingers through the dark locks, pulled Helen’s mouth further onto the shaft she now thrust in her mouth until she felt Helen’s lips press against her open, sodden labia.

 

The holding shaft rubbed against her g-spot and Janet moaned aloud, _“Oh god, not yet.”_ she begged and pulled the length free, _“On the bed... please….”_ she chuckled, breathless and pulled Helen to her feet.

 

Wordless, Helen obeyed, returning to the bed and lay with her backside again elevated on the pillow. Holding the toy in place, Janet followed and climbed onto the mattress, between her legs. The air was thick with the rich, redolent sexual scents of both women and Janet clutched the saliva-slick erection in amorous anticipation, feeling the flood of cum Helen’s ministrations had triggered spill past the invading toy and run between her legs.

 

Locking brown on blue, she briefly teased Helen’s cream-filled opening with the tip of the softer thrusting shaft, her eyes brimming when Helen moaned low in her throat and opened her legs wider.  Clenching every muscle between her legs, she slid the length inside and watched as ecstasy twisted Helen’s features and tears of joy spilled from the corners of her eyes as she rocked and pumped the toy in her body.  She had removed the locking pin that held the phallus at different angles, having discovered years before that allowing the thrusting dildo to move freely on the hinge allowed her more thrusting power and she pumped and undulated her hips with increasing strength, answering Helen’s pleas for more. She locked eyes with her long lost lover and vigorously pumped the cock, her face twisting into a mask of pure pleasure at the sensation of the holding shaft moving inside her and Helen’s moans and cries.

 

Janet shifted her weight onto her left elbow and reaching under the pumping dong, pressed the button on the bullet. The small vibrator extended crossways up into the thrusting phallus and into the clitoral extension and both women moaned and whimpered in unison, Janet at feeling the buzzing vibration on her clit, and Helen at feeling the thrusting shaft suddenly vibrate in her depths.

 

 _“Oh god…”_ Helen cried and arched rigidly on the bed, her legs spreading wide as she bucked and convulsed uncontrollably. Janet wrapped her arms tightly around her and came with a shout, unaware that she ejaculated violently as the orgasm shook her and she pressed her forehead into Helen’s chest, screaming and groaning into her flesh.

 

Hot squirts of ejaculate exploded with each quaking jerk from their rigid bodies and both women wept in rapturous release as Helen’s sweet syrupy ejaculate mixed with Janet’s lighter, sugary sweet ejaculate. Janet’s backside still clenched and her hips still bucked and thrust the toy inside and she raised her head to look down into Helen’s vulnerable features as their orgasms continued to shake them. Panting and breathing raggedly amid moans and whimpers and soft keening cries, they looked deeply into each other’s eyes as the vibrating bullet refused to let the mutual climaxes fade. They surrendered utterly and sublimely, and gazing deeply into each other’s souls, they returned, home at last.

 

Still looking into Helen’s eyes, Janet finally reached beneath the toy and turned off the bullet, _“I love you...”_ she whispered breathlessly.

 

Helen cupped the damp porcelain cheek, her thumb brushing over the bruised lips, “And I love you, my darling.” When Janet raised her body and she felt the toy pulling free, she stopped her, _“Please…”_ she implored, “Can we stay coupled?”

 

“Of course...” Janet tucked her hips firmly against Helen’s center, making her grunt in renewed arousal and pulling on the back of Helen’s right knee, lifted her leg up and over her hip so she could turn slightly and lie at an angle pressed along Helen’s side, still connected by the buried shafts.

 

Helen rolled slightly onto her side, draping both legs over the slim hips so Janet could thrust the toy inside her again at a more leisurely pace. Content, Janet slid her left arm under and around Helen’s waist, holding her securely while she suckled a full breast in her mouth, tonguing the hard nipple while Helen stroked and petted her hair. It wasn’t until Helen felt Janet’s fingertips fondling her clitoris that she realized she was coming again and let the orgasm wash over her in a long sustained wave. Janet’s heart swelled and tears brimmed and spilled from her eyes while she watched Helen quietly whimper and cry and her features twist in splendid release while she trembled and quaked and convulsed, her hips slowly undulating and bucking against Janet’s fondling fingers and thrusting toy.

 

The orgasm was slow to fade and Janet lay her head against Helen’s heaving breast, content to listen to the sighs of pleasure that sounded deep in her chest and the magnificent heartbeat as it slowed. Helen shakily let go of the sheet she gripped tightly in her left hand and dropped it exhaustedly over the hand Janet cupped protectively over her mound.

 

 _“Thank you…”_ she panted.

 

Janet smiled and nuzzled a softening nipple, “We are gonna’ be so dehydrated in the morning from coming and crying so much.”

 

Helen emitted a harrumphing sound and peered blearily at the early morning sunlight streaming in through the drapes, “I believe it already _is_ morning.” she rasped, “Are you still comfortable?” she asked solicitously.

 

 _“Oh yes,”_ Janet purred, her hips pressed involuntarily into Helen’s body and her faint smile was apologetic when Helen moaned in surrender. “Sorry…”

 

 _“Never be sorry for being inside me.”_ Helen whispered thickly and squeezed the hand that held her. “In my long life, this is the only safe place I have ever known….” She looked down into the earnest brown eyes Janet turned to her and raised her casted arm so she could brush the soft tear-stained cheek with her fingertips, “Here… in the shelter of your arms… and the safe haven of your heart.”

 _“For 300 years we've been waiting for his return,” he nodded, “this means my ancestors will be at peace.”_


End file.
